By Bukola Kayode
These are not the best times for billionaire Elon Musk as Teslaโs stock plummeted 36% in the first three months of the year, its steepest drop since 2022 and third-biggest decline for any quarter on record.
The company recorded a decline in new vehicle sales coupled with concerns surrounding President Trumpโs tariffs as well as protests related to Muskโs role in the administration.
Tesla lost over $460 billion in market cap in the quarter, while the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency claims itโs so far saved $140 billion.
The last time Tesla recorded a huge loss was at the end of 2022, when the stock cratered 54%. That quarter included CEO Elon Muskโs sale of more than $22 billion worth of Tesla shares to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, later renamed X. On Friday, Musk said his artificial intelligence startup xAI has acquired X in a deal valuing the social media company at $33 billion.
Teslaโs first-quarter drop wiped out over $460 billion in market cap. The majority of the quarter overlaps with Muskโs time in the second Trump administration, leading an effort to slash government spending and regulations, and terminating tens of thousands of federal employees.
Musk is leading whatโs known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As of Monday, the DOGE website claimed that, through March 24, the program had notched $140 billion in federal spending reductions, a number equal to less than one-third of Teslaโs valuation loss in the first quarter.
โMy Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla has gone, went roughly in half,โ Musk said on Sunday night at a rally he held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to promote the right-wing judge heโs backing for Tuesdayโs state supreme court election. โThis is a very expensive job is what Iโm saying.โ
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