Tesla Market Value Halves In a Year Rocked by Elon Musk Stake Sales

Elon Musk’s $3.95 billion sale of Tesla Inc. stock prolongs a rough period for investors in the electric carmaker, whose market value has halved in the past year.

Tesla has declined for three straight months and November is proving even worse. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Elon Musk's $3.95 billion sale of Tesla Inc. stock prolongs a rough period for investors in the electric carmaker, whose market value has halved in the past year after becoming tied to the twists and turns of Musk's Twitter Inc. buyout.

While the Tesla chief has repeatedly said he's done selling the shares, the latest sale brings total proceeds to about $36 billion. Musk began unwinding his holding a year ago, when his Twitter followers backed him trimming his stake in response to a poll. He still owns about 14%, according to Bloomberg data.

“Musk selling stock again after saying he wouldn't can only leave the door open to more going forward one would think,” said Mark Taylor, a sales trader at Mirabaud Securities.

Tesla has declined for three straight months and November is proving even worse, with the shares falling 16% so far and plumbing a 17-month low. Its Relative Strength Index is back in oversold territory, and the stock has lost $600 billion in market capitalization since peaking last November.

It at least held steady in US premarket trading on Wednesday, edging up about 1%.