$14 Billion has been wiped off Tesla's value after founder Elon Musk, tweeted that the carmaker's share price was too high. The tweet also wiped $3bn off Mr Musk's own stake in Tesla as investors pulled their money from the company.
"Tesla stock price too high imo," he said, one of several tweets that included a vow to sell his possessions.
Within minutes of the tweet, Tesla share price began to sinking, dropping 10 per cent over the course of an hour before recovering slightly.Tesla stock price is too high imo— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
In another tweet, Mr Musk said the promise to sell his possessions included his house, which formerly owned by actor and producer Gene Wilder, and brought in 2013.
"One stipulation on sale: I own Gene Wilder's old house. It cannot be torn down or lose any of its soul," one tweet read.
Tesla's share price surged this year, putting the electric carmaker's value close to $100 billion value, which would trigger a bonus payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to the entrepreneur.
In 2018, a tweet about Tesla's future on the New York stock market led to swings in the share price. The Securities and Exchange Commission judged it a market-moving comment and then fined him $20 million and had him agree to have further posts on the platform pre-screened by lawyers.
As part of the settlement with regulators in 2018, Mr Musk stepped down as Tesla's chairman for three years.
Follow the tweet, Tesla did not immediately confirm if Mr Musk's tweet had been given legal clearance, or whether the company currently had a general counsel. Tesla lost three general counsels last year, one of them quitting after only two months.