UPDATE: Tesla Stock Rose by 15 Percent After Elon Musk Settled With SEC
Musk has agreed to step down as chairman.
UPDATE: Tesla shares went up over 15% October 1, following the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk settled fraud charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, though he has neither admitted to nor denied the allegations. As mentioned below, Musk has agreed to step down as Tesla’s chairman for at least the next three years. Both he and Tesla will pay a $20 million USD fine.
Naughty by Nature 😉https://t.co/muZdxJWjyZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2018
Following the lawsuit filed by the SEC against Elon Musk, which the billionaire initially refused to settle, Tesla shares took a major tumble. As of closing time on September 28, the company’s stock price declined by 14%, a loss of $7.3 billion USD. This is likely to be only temporary, however; Tesla shares fell by nearly 10% percent back in August, eventually rising back to normal heights.
Indeed, in a year where Elon Musk reportedly fought corporate sabotage, tussled with a heroic cave diver and deleted his Instagram out of fear of Azelia Banks, this recent scandal is merely par for the course. 2018 wasn’t only bad news for the car company, of course. Recently Tesla announced plans to take Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to the moon and ramped up production of its Model 3 over the summer.
The company’s consistently strong shares reflect its resilience. Regardless of impropriety, Tesla is blessed with a solid core of faithful fans and competent ideas. For now, Musk has since settled with the SEC and resigned as chairman of Tesla, though he’ll stay on as CEO. He will also pay a $20 million USD fine, matched by Tesla due to failure to confirm the legality of Musk’s Twitter announcements. The entire $40 million USD will be distributed to shareholders harmed by the falling share prices, though it’s a pittance when compared to the $7.3 billion USD loss. Still, if past transgressions are anything to go off of, it seems likely that Tesla stock will rebound.
In the meantime, the company reintroduced its portable wireless charger at a discounted price.
