Elon Musk is used to dealing with critics, haters and detractors.
He even likes these battles.
Sometimes he even challenges his alleged enemies. The Techno King, as he is known in Tesla (TSLA) – Get a Free Report, likes to counterattack his opponents’ attacks. The serial entrepreneur is not as deadly when he is on the defensive.
These enemies he knows them. He knows their angles of attack. Certainly some of these criticisms irritated him but he always found a line of reply to dismiss the scoffers.
He can also count on his legion of fans, many of whom are Tesla die-hard fans. They believe in his promises to change the world and advance our civilization. They applaud his iconoclastic side and don’t hesitate to cry genius when he announces a new product. The billionaire always knew he could count on these admirers.
The Revolt of the Retail Investor
But what he didn’t expect was that some of these fans would follow him. That’s why he never prepared for it because he always trusted their loyalty to him. It turns out Musk was wrong.
For several weeks now, Tesla’s CEO has been the target of repeated criticism from some retail investors. Investor Leo KuGuan, who is the third largest individual car owner after Musk and Oracle (ORCL) – Get a Free Report co-founder Larry Ellison, went so far as to sound a revolt against Musk.
“I’m 100% in Tesla bc I believe in Elon Musk and Tesla,” KoGuan wrote on Twitter on January 7. “But he killed SH and Tesla. If I knew I wouldn’t have invested in Tesla.”
“Elon invested ≈$200mm but took $40B, Larry invested $1B, I invested over $3B, I have no choice but to act and speak up. I’m begging the U to for help!”
The criticism of these investors is the result of Tesla’s stock market loss. In 2022, Tesla’s stock lost 65% of its value, translating to over $600 billion in market capitalization lost in one year. Tesla’s market value is currently $357 billion, up from more than $1 trillion at the start of 2022. In the first four trading sessions of 2023, Tesla shares lost 8.2% to $113.06.
While Musk attributed this stock market disaster to macroeconomic factors such as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes to fight inflation and the European energy crisis, many Tesla shareholders believe that his Twitter’s acquisition of $ 44 billion is a big problem.
They claim that when Musk turned his sights on the social media platform, he completely abandoned Tesla. Worse, he alienated many Tesla buyers by constantly attacking progressives and Democrats on Twitter.
Tesla Outshines Its Rivals
Retail investors together owned 41.9% of Tesla shares as of December 5, according to WallStreetZen. Institutional investors hold the largest block with 43.01% of the shares. The balance is held by company executives, ie 15%.
While Musk has once responded to some criticism in the past, he has been quiet lately. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that he must observe a quiet period until the publication of the company’s earnings on January 25. Until that date, the management team musk remains silent so as not to influence the share price to the benefit of some shareholders. or to the detriment of others.
But Musk has recently found a subtle and unusual way to respond to criticism, which has turned violent in recent days. The businessman recently retweeted a chart showing that of all the major automakers present in the American market, only Tesla and General Motors. (GM) – Get a Free Report managed to increase their sales of light vehicles in 2022 compared to 2021. All other car manufacturers saw their sales decrease compared to 2021.
Tesla saw its sales increase by 44% in one year while GM’s increased by only 3%.
Musk said nothing else.
