Elon Musk tweets that he might take Tesla private, sending shares into a tizzy

Elon Musk.
(Image credit: Joshua Lott / Stringer/ Getty Images)

Elon Musk riled up the stock market on Tuesday, tweeting that he was thinking of taking Tesla private at $420 per share, "funding secured."

Shares of the electric car company skyrocketed 7.4 percent as the CEO's message sunk in, CNBC reports. Then trading was brought to a halt.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Musk soon tweeted again to sort of clear up the situation, saying shareholders could either sell at $420 or hold their shares as Tesla went private. He hopes all current investors stay with Tesla even if it goes private, Musk tweeted, but "will ensure their prosperity in any scenario."

Musk recently hinted at a rejection of Wall Street, saying Tesla "would not be raising equity at any point" during a call to analysts Wednesday, per the Los Angeles Times. Tesla is worth $61 billion, and going private at $420 per share would lock the company's valuation at $71.3 billion. Musk expects the company to be profitable in 2018's third quarter, despite reporting a record loss of $718 million in the second quarter last week.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.