Tesla stock plummets after Elon Musk’s Twitter rants

Tesla stock took a hit Monday morning after founder Elon Musk generated negative publicity over the weekend.

Stock for the electric car company closed at $318.87 a share on Friday and opened at $311.70 on Monday. By 10:30am, it had dipped even lower, to $309.62 – or nearly three per cent. 

It all started when the Federal Election Commission released annual filings this week, showing Musk as one of the top 50 donors to a political action committee dedicated to help Republicans maintain control of the House.

Tesla stock took a hit Monday morning after Elon Musk generated some negative publicity over the weekend 

While Musk has described himself as ‘half Democrat, half Repulican’ in the past, it struck many as hypocritical that a green energy CEO would donate nearly $40,000 to help keep in power a political party that has largely ignored or denied climate change.

Despite the fact that publicly-available FEC documents prove his donations to the PAC, Musk tweeted on Saturday that ‘reports that I am a top donor of the GOP are categorically false’.

‘I am not a top donor to any political party,’ he said.

In Twitter rants over the weekend, Musk denied being a top GOP donor and called one of the divers who helped rescue the Thai boys' soccer team a 'pedo'

In Twitter rants over the weekend, Musk (left) denied being a top GOP donor and called Vernon Unsworth (right), one of the divers who helped rescue the Thai boys’ soccer team, a ‘pedo’

Musk has since deleted the tweet in which he called Unsworth a 'pedo'. Unsworth says he is considering suing the Telsa CEO 

Musk has since deleted the tweet in which he called Unsworth a ‘pedo’. Unsworth says he is considering suing the Telsa CEO 

Musk’s Twitter took another bizarre turn on Sunday, when he called a diver who helped rescue a boys soccer team from an elaborate cave system in Thailand earlier this month a ‘pedo’.

British diver Vernon Unsworth accused Musk of staging a ‘PR stunt’ by sending some of his engineers to Thailand to aid in the rescue.

Musk’s engineers developed a mini submarine that could fit a single child inside which they thought could be used by divers to ferry the children through the narrow underwater passages.

The invention was not used and in the end, the boys – many of whom did not know how to swim – were quickly taught how to dive with full face masks. All got out alive.

The other major story to emerge about Musk over the weekend was the fact that he is one of the top 50 donors to a political action committee to keep the Republicans in control of the house 

The other major story to emerge about Musk over the weekend was the fact that he is one of the top 50 donors to a political action committee to keep the Republicans in control of the house 

Musk denied this fact in a tweet, despite the fact that FEC documents prove his donation 

Musk denied this fact in a tweet, despite the fact that FEC documents prove his donation 

Unsworth said Musk’s prototype would have had ‘absolutely no chance of working’.

‘The submarine, I believe, was about 5ft 6in long, rigid, so it wouldn’t have gone round corners or round any obstacles,’ he said.

Musk did not respond well to the criticism, hitting back in a series of sinec-deleted tweets on Sunday pledging to produce videos proving the sub would have worked.

‘Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,’ he said, referring to Mr Unsworth.

When people pointed out that he was calling the man who helped find and rescue the children a paedophile, Musk added: ‘Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true’.

Unsworth said he is now considering legal action against Musk.

 



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