Expensive Tweets
Over the weekend, the richest man in the world asked his 60+ million twitter followers for financial advice. Who wouldโve thought? Elon tweeted out a poll asking if he should sell 10% of his stock in Tesla. He said, โMuch is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stockโ and that he will โabide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.โ Of the 3.5 million people who voted, 57.9% said Musk should sell. His poll wiped away about $30 billion in Teslaโs market value on Monday as cautious investors sold their shares.
Authorities have already scrutinized Musk for sending out tweets that affected the price of Teslaโs shares. After tweeting that he was considering taking Tesla private in 2018, the SEC charged him with fraud. However, Musk agreed to a court-approved settlement that mandated Tesla directors to evaluate any social media posts containing โmaterialโ information for shareholders.
What do you think about Muskโs frequent tweets about Tesla? Do you think he should ask his followers for financial advice that could affect Teslaโs stock price? Many people think Musk went too far, but others argue he is protected by his first amendment right.
Although shares of Tesla declined after Muskโs tweet, he is still the richest person in the world with a net worth of $323B as of Tuesday morning.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.