Gary Zhou 
It appears that Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) is still suffering from its now-infamous Twitter overhang. In the wake of CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company, investors have continued to sell TSLA stock, effectively wiping out its gains over the previous 17 months.
Tesla stock finished Monday at $197.08 per share, a 5% decline and its lowest price since June 2021. So notable was the drop in Tesla stock that the company’s losses became one of the largest contributors to the benchmark S&P 500 Index’s losses on Monday.
It should be noted that Tesla stock has been feeling pressure even before Musk took over Twitter. The CEO’s recent controversies with the social media company, however, do not seem to be helping the electric vehicle maker. On October 27, Musk concluded his Twitter purchase, and ever since, he has been tweeting nonstop about his ideas for the social media platform.
Since then, Tesla shares have fallen over 12%. The S&P 500 Index barely changed during the same period, and the Nasdaq 100 only saw a 1.9% drop.
As noted in a Bloomberg News report, some Tesla shareholders have expressed concerns that Musk is dividing his attention too thinly among his many high-profile endeavors, especially as Twitter needs a lot of work following the CEO’s takeover. Musk, for example, seems to be neck-deep in his efforts to roll out a paid subscription for Twitter, while dealing with several self-inflicted controversies along the way.
Some investors seem to prefer that Musk pay closer attention to Tesla, especially considering the company’s ambitious targets for 2022 and its numerous projects. These include the Tesla Semi’s first deliveries next month and the preparations for the Cybertruck’s production at Gigafactory Texas.
While Tesla and Twitter are very separate endeavors, Musk’s ties to both companies are undeniable. That being said, Tesla does seem to be executing properly even without Musk posting publicly about the electric vehicle maker regularly on Twitter. Deliveries of the Class 8 Tesla Semi still seem to be set for December 1, and recent drone flyovers of the Giga Texas and Giga Berlin complexes suggest that the EV maker remains fully focused on its mission.
