San Francisco: Elon Musk lost his position as Tesla Chairman after posting a notorious tweet in August last year that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured”. Over a year later, Tesla stock briefly hits $420 per share on Monday and the CEO could not hide his joy. “Whoa, the stock is so high lol,” Musk tweeted.
“Stock art,” he added. According to CNBC, Tesla stock reached an all-time high of $422.01 before closing Monday at $419.22 — up more than 3 percent and bringing Tesla’s market cap to over $75 billion.
In the 16 months that followed the August tweet, Tesla stock plummeted to a three-year low just under $177 per share in June this year.
Musk stunned investors again after the infamous tweet, smoking marijuana during a TV interview.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk over the tweet, saying he misled investors by claiming falsely he had lined up funding for the take-private transaction.
Musk reached a settlement with the SEC, agreeing to give up his role as Tesla chairman and pay a $20 million fine. According to the settlement, all tweets from Musk about Tesla’s financial health, sales or delivery numbers would have to be pre-approved by a company lawyer. In February, the SEC again held Musk in contempt of court for allegedly violating a previous public disclosure settlement.
Tesla surprised Wall Street in October by registering a profitable third quarter with total revenue of $6.3 billion riding on sales of its Model S, Model X and Model 3 electric cars. (IANS)