A single session on Wall Street was all it took for Tesla to undo all of its recent gains. The company created by Elon Musk has already lost 126 billion dollars on the New York stock exchange after the billionaire secured the purchase of Twitter.
Yesterday alone, the company lost 12.18% on the stock market, which is equivalent to $21 billion, money that is used to acquire half of the social network.
According to the newspaper Económico, this drop shows that investors and holders of shares of the electric carmaker are not happy with the new bet of the richest man in the world, bringing down all prospects that Musk would add even more fortune with the purchase of Twitter.
The 12.2% drop in Tesla shares to $876.42 is the biggest daily drop recorded since last January 27, the day the company pulled back 12% after reporting fourth-quarter results last year that fell short of analysts' expectations.
However, the drop is even greater when looked at from the big picture. Since Musk announced the purchase of 9.2% of the social network's stock, shares of the world's most valuable car brand have fallen more than 22%, from $1,145 to $887, which means the total loss of the $126 billion.
An analyst consulted by "Reuters" pointed out that the devaluation of the company's securities is due to concerns about Musk's lack of focus. In the idea of investors, the purchase of Twitter will lead the billionaire to focus on the new business and leave Tesla in the background.
But it is not only the focus that has led thousands of investors to withdraw their money from Tesla. Many did not like Musk's own proposed financing plan for the Twitter purchase, in which half of the money will come from Tesla.
So, of the total $44 billion, only $22 billion would be Musk's, with the mogul having to get the remaining funding from his shares in the company. With his shares valued at $180 billion, Musk would have to divest himself of some securities to get the promised funding.
If it is confirmed that the money comes from the automaker, this will be the second sale in a few months, after it dispatched 10% of its bonds in the first quarter, equivalent to 17.5 million euros, money that was used to pay taxes.
Another analyst heard by the publication believes that "if Tesla's stock price continues its free fall, it will hurt its finances." Thus, after several criticisms of the purchase, Musk could sink two companies at once.
It is known that the other half of the funding will come in the form of loans from banking and a consortium of seven US banks, including Morgan Stanley, Barclays, BoA, BNP Paribas, MUFG, Mizuho, and Societé Générale.
On Twitter, Musk's plan is to delist the company from the New York stock exchange, ensuring the freedom of speech he has been preaching. Musk's ultimate goal is to reduce control of the content posted on the social network, a work that has been done in recent years to mitigate the misinformation and hate speech, which it has led to.