How Tesla became the world's most valuable automaker

Most expensive or most overpriced?

In July, Tesla became the most expensive automaker in the world, overtaking Toyota: its capitalization amounted to $ 209 billion, and by the end of August it doubled to $ 400 billion. At the same time, Tesla produced 367 thousand cars last year, and Toyota - 10 , 74 million

The company also overtook Johnson & Johnson and IBM, some of the largest corporations in the world. Over the year, its shares have risen in price sixfold - by 760% (up 400% since the beginning of the year), and now Tesla is worth more than the GDP of Israel, Ireland and Hong Kong. The head of the company, Elon Musk, has risen to the third line in the ranking of the wealthiest people in the world, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla and other automakers market capitalization as of September 1, 2020

But capitalization is not equal to real profit: it is just an estimate of the demand for shares. It can change dramatically from day to day, influenced by a variety of factors. One of these factors is Elon Musk himself, who often makes outrageous statements and disrupts the deadlines for important projects.

Musk recently called his company "overvalued." Doubts arise not only for him: many experts consider Tesla to be another "bubble". The company's phenomenal growth began in the second half of 2019, for the first time in 17 years. Last year alone, it lost $ 862 million in losses.

Tesla's market value plunged $ 50 billion in October after Musk broke his promise again by not presenting new batteries for Tesla's electric cars at Battery Day

How Musk's tweets affected Tesla stock

Elon Musk loves to write provocative posts on his Twitter. In this he is similar to US President Donald Trump. In both cases, tweets lead not only to media buzz, but also to tangible economic consequences.

The most scandalous is the tweet from August 2018, when Musk promised to privatize Tesla if the share price rises to $ 420. This figure is popular with marijuana lovers: it is customary to smoke it at 16:20. Because of this, social networks began to write that Musk was posting tweets under the influence of marijuana:

The shares began to grow rapidly, and trading had to be stopped so that the company would not be accused of speculation. The Securities Commission intervened. As a result, Musk had to pay a $ 20 million fine, and the company paid another $ 20 million. He was forced to step down as chairman of the board of directors and continue to coordinate his tweets with management.

In December 2019, the stock really rose to $ 420. After which Musk wrote that they "got so tall." The pun is that in English high - "high" - also means "high":

In May 2020, Musk wrote that Tesla's stock price was "too high." As a result, they fell by 12%:

In July, Musk once again decided to play a trick on investors and released red sports shorts with Tesla symbols. He did it as promised when the company's capitalization exceeded $ 200 billion:

At the heart of the joke is a play on words: in English, the word shorts - shorts - is the same as short positions in the stock market. By opening them, the trader bets that these shares will soon fall. On the back there is an embroidered “S3XY” inscription - a reference to four Tesla models.

The shorts themselves were selling for $ 69,420, which is also not without reason: this is an allusion to the scandalous tweet of 2018, where Musk promised to buy Tesla shares at $ 420 apiece:

Finally, a recent tweet that Tesla shares are too expensive plunged $ 14 billion in capitalization:

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