After posting a controversial poll on Twitter, Elon Musk has lost $ 50 billion so far this week after Tesla shares fell 16% in just two days, marking the biggest drop in the history of the index. Bloomberg billionaires in that time frame.
Share prices have also been hit by news that his brother Kimbal Musk, a member of the Tesla board of directors, sold more than $ 100 million in shares of the electric car maker last week.
Also, a recent tweet, which has been deleted, by famous American investor Michael Burry suggesting that Musk could sell part of his stock to cover personal debts, has contributed to this scenario.
This week’s sharp drop in Tesla shares comes after the businessman asked his Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of the shares he owns to pay taxes, claiming that “unrealized gains are a means of tax evasion”.
The affirmative result of the participants (57.9%) caused the price of Tesla shares to fall to 7% on Monday and almost 12% on the New York Stock Exchange this Tuesday, reaching 1,023.5 dollars each share. This is the worst drop for the company’s values since September 8, when they plummeted 21%.
However, despite this week’s steep decline, Tesla shares continue to rise more than 40% so far this year, and the South African-born businessman continues to top the list of the richest on the planet.
