Tesla’s stocks declined by 9%, which resulted in Elon Musk’s net worth dropping by $24 billion. Forbes’ billionaire index indicates that the decline was due to Tesla’s Q3 performance, which was disappointing.
On Wednesday, the shares were priced at $245, but by Thursday evening, they had dropped to $220. In Q3, Tesla’s net income was $1.85 billion, which is a 44% decrease from the previous year’s same period. Musk’s ownership stake in Tesla is roughly 21%, which accounts for a significant 68% of his wealth.
Tesla achieved a 9% YoY growth in total revenue, which was $23.4 billion. However, this was lower than the previous quarter (Q2), when the company reported revenue of around $21.3 billion. Tesla’s earnings also fell from 91% in Q2 to 66% in Q3. These results were below investors’ expectations, with FactSet predicting revenue of $24.2 billion and 72 cents per share in earnings.
During the July-September period, Tesla sold 435,059 vehicles, which is a 27% increase compared to the previous year. Nonetheless, this still fell short of the 461,000 vehicle sales that analysts had foreseen, according to FactSet Research.
Experts attribute much of the stock price decline to Musk’s recent statements during an earnings call. Musk expressed concerns about the broader global economy, noting that “interest costs in the U.S. have risen substantially” and describing the current market as a “challenging economic environment.” He also mentioned the need for the company to lower prices and manage early expectations for the upcoming Cybertruck product.
Despite this, Musk continues to hold the title of the world’s wealthiest individual, and Tesla remains the eighth-largest company in the world by market capitalization, worth $695.7 billion, according to Motley Fool.