Tesla stock plunges as Musk’s feud with Trump over GOP tax bill spooks investors
By BERNARD CONDON Shares of Elon Musk s electric bicycle maker fell sharply Thursday as investors feared his dispute with President Donald Trump will hurt the company Tesla closed down more than as a disagreement over the U S president s budget bill turned nasty After Musk mentioned that Trump wouldn t haven t gotten elected without his help Trump implied that he may turn the federal establishment against his companies including Tesla and SpaceX The easiest way to save money in our Budget Billions and Billions of Dollars is to terminate Elon s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts Trump wrote on his social messaging function Truth Social I was perpetually surprised that Biden didn t do it Related Articles Tesla s China shipments extend slump bucking broader sales boom Elon Musk leaving the Trump White House after bill criticism Senate votes to kill California electric car mandate Elon Musk s pullback from politics comes after his last big financing was a flop Sales of zero-emission vehicles in California slow down The drop on Thursday wiped out nearly billion from Tesla s arena value partially reversing a big runup in the eight weeks since Musk verified that Tesla would testing an autonomous driverless robotaxi system in Austin Texas this month Investors fear Trump might not be in such a rush to usher in a future of self-driving cars in the U S and that could slam Tesla because so much of its future business depends on that There is a fear that Trump is not going to play Mr Nice Guy when in come to autonomous disclosed Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives The whole goal of robotaxis is to have them or cities next year If you start to heighten the regulatory context that could delay that path Trump s threat to cut executive contracts seem targeted more to another of Musk s businesses SpaceX his privately held rocket company that received billions of dollars to send astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station provide launches and do other work for NASA The company is at this time racing to develop a mega rocket for the space agency to sent astronauts to moon next year A subsidiary of SpaceX the satellite internet company Starlink appears to also have benefited from Musk s once-close relationship with the president On a trip with Trump to the Middle East last month Musk released that Saudi Arabia had approved his satellite system for aviation and maritime use Though its not clear how much politics has played a role a string of other newest deals for the company in Bangladesh Pakistan India and elsewhere has come as Trump has threatened tariffs and sent diplomats scrambling to please the president One measure of SpaceX s success A private financing round followed by a private sale of shares of late reportedly valued it at billion up from an estimated billion just a year ago Tesla shares initially got a lift from his assistance of Trump In the weeks after Trump was elected Tesla shares soared hitting an all-time high on Dec But they gave back those gains during Musk s time as head of a leadership cost-cutting group as Tesla s reputation took a hit They ve of late popped higher again after Musk vowed to focus much more on Tesla and its upcoming launch of driverless taxis