Elon Musk loses $4.9 billion in Tesla’s worst-ever start to a year
Live MintTesla Inc. shares have never had a worse start to a year than in 2019, and Elon Musk is paying the biggest price. The stock has tumbled 43% this year through Thursday, lopping $4.9 billion from the value of Musk’s stake, as Wall Street has grown increasingly skeptical about consumer demand for the company’s electric vehicles. The rout has erased a total of $7.8 billion from the stakes of Tesla’s four biggest individual shareholders -- Musk, Tencent Holdings Ltd., Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Larry Ellison -- including $2.7 billion in May alone. Ellison, the Oracle Corp. co-founder who has been a vocal defender of Musk, bought 3 million shares last year and joined Tesla’s board in December. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns about 5% of Tesla but hedged most of its holding in January through an arrangement with the bank, according to the Financial Times.