It seems like Elon Musk is the media's new favorite topic. There's not a day that goes by without Elon in the headlines. But the attention isn't without reason, Elon has created a wild (and admittedly entertaining) environment around his acquisition of Twitter. And with that has come a TERRIBLE year for Tesla shareholders. 

Tesla's stock price is down nearly 70% year-to-date! Short sellers are reinvigorated in their bearish stances! And Tesla has become Twitter's dollar lifeline! As a Tesla shareholder, here's how I've felt about everything going on:

When I first heard Elon wanted to buy Twitter, I thought "why". Why would he take on another large business venture. He has Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and many other large sized projects to divide his time across. There's only so many things you can allocate your time to before some start to be neglected. And I believe that's the fear for many shareholders. If Elon is focusing all of his time on Twitter, when will he work on Tesla. When you consider that we may see a recession, capital is becoming more expensive with interest rates, and EV competition heating up, shareholders want the founder and CEO focused on running Tesla. 

But forget about Elon's dedicated time, what about the price tag for Twitter? $44 BILLION! Even for the richest man in the world, that's A LOT of money! Sure the plan was to bring outside investment, but no matter what the financing structure was, Elon was going to have to convert a significant amount of his wealth to cash. Almost ALL of Elon's wealth is in the form of Tesla stock. And sure enough that's what he's had to do. To date, Elon has sold nearly $40 BILLION worth of Tesla stock (partly financial obligations and partly financing Twitter). But he also had to take on high interest debt ($13B in debt financing). That may fall on Twitter's financial statements, but in the event Twitter needs more capital, there's no guarantee Elon won't use Tesla stock to pay for it. 

As a shareholder, you don't want the founder and CEO selling off their ownership. Their equity position is what aligns their incentives with those of shareholders. The thing is, you can expect Elon to do what's best for Tesla, because it's what's best for himself! The more ownership he sells off, the less his self interest aligns with ours. 

Another byproduct of the Twitter deal was that Elon has become politicized. Whether that was intentional or not, Elon has entered the battle of left vs right. Why should I care? Well, politics are VERY divisive. And if Elon becomes divisive, that reflects on Tesla's brand. Branding is EVERYTHING! Branding is that connection between company and customers. If the Tesla brand becomes synonymous with controversy, that could definitely alienate important segments of Tesla's customer base. As long as Elon is CEO, anything he says or does will impact Tesla's brand. I'm worried that all of this mess will take away from Tesla being an innovative, luxurious technology company headed towards widespread availability (think Apple). 

Tesla stock is extremely price sensitive now. Any negative news report could result in larger sell offs. At the time of this video, there was two separate trading days in which the price declined 5% or more. This volatility opens the door to short sellers (who LOVE shorting Tesla), and that could spook a lot of Tesla investors on the fence about the company. 

So why am I not entirely worried? Well Tesla is still incredibly efficient in their operations. Their competitors just can't operate at those levels of profitable production (yet). Their financial trends are those of a promising growth company. And Tesla is still synonymous with EV. Yes, being a Tesla shareholder has been a headache, but I'm optimistic. As you have to be during times like these. 

Disclaimer:
This is not financial advice, nor am I acting in the capacity of a financial advisor. All statements, information, and opinions are for the purpose of entertainment. 

tesla stock, elon musk twitter, elon musk buys twitter, what is happening with tesla stock, tesla stock crash, tesla share analysis, tesla share price, tesla investment, investing, stocks, personal finance, financial freedom, financial education, financial independence, financial literacy