Tesla Stock Plunges After Elon Musk Smokes Weed During Joe Rogan Podcast
Shares of Tesla Inc. (TSLA) tanked as much as 9 percent on September 7, after two mid-level executives resigned. Fueling the stock’s plunge were videos showing Tesla CEO Elon Musk smoking pot during a live podcast with social-media star Joe Rogan the day before.
Tesla stock opened Friday at $260.10 after closing on Thursday at $280.95. After tanking by as much as 9 percent Friday morning to $253.93 a share, the bleeding leveled off mid-morning.
TSLA closed on September 7 at $263.24 a share, down 6.30 percent, after recovering from its early-morning nosedive.
Accounting and HR Heads Resigned
Tesla Inc. announced on Friday that its human resources chief, Gaby Toledano, and chief accounting officer Dave Morton both resigned.
Morton, who had been at the company for only a month, issued a statement saying the intense media scrutiny of Tesla was responsible for his abrupt resignation.
“Since I joined Tesla on August 6, the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations,” Morton said in a statement (via CNBC) “As a result, this caused me to reconsider my future.”
Elon Musk smoking a blunt for the first time on Joe Rogan's podcast is Internet gold https://t.co/nx8zQ7HlyB
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 7, 2018
Elon Musk and his electric-car company have been under fire for at least a month, after the South African billionaire posted a series of controversial tweets on August 7 claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share — a 20 percent premium to its stock price at the time.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote. https://t.co/bIH4Td5fED
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Two weeks later, Musk backpedaled on those claims. Elon explained in an August 25 blog post that he decided to keep Tesla public after meeting with investors and the company’s board of directors.
“It’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company,” Musk wrote in a blog post. “Although the majority of shareholders I spoke to said they would remain with Tesla if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was “please don’t do this.”
Musk underscored, “That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.”
Musk To Media: Stop Asking ‘Bonehead’ Questions
Musk has trashed what he considers the media’s dishonest coverage. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Musk got testy with analysts during an unforgettable post-earnings conference call in May.
Musk dismissed several questions as “boring, bonehead questions.”
At another point, he quipped to a reporter, “These questions are so dry. They’re killing me.”
Elon Musk To Haters: Don’t Buy TSLA
During the wild conference call, an impatient Musk also said he couldn’t care less about making sure that day traders profit from Tesla’s stock and urged them to sell TSLA.
“We have no interest in satisfying the desires of day traders,” Musk said. “I couldn’t care less. Please sell our stock and don’t buy it.”
Elon Musk in one GIF. pic.twitter.com/pLrPYN2tW1
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 7, 2018
Basically, Musk said that if investors only care about turning a quick profit and don’t truly believe in Tesla cars, they can take a flying leap for all he cares.
Here’s Elon Musk’s entire interview with Joe Rogan: