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JP Morgan Batters Tesla’s Stocks As Fallout From Musk’s Tweets Continues

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Chris White
August 20, 2018 10:05 AM ET

Wall Street analysts are still battering Tesla over CEO Elon Musk’s tweet suggesting he secured necessary funding to take the electric automaker private after years of being publicly traded.

JP Morgan is the most recent firm to knock the company down a peg — the firm pushed Tesla’s stock down to $195 from $308, representing 36 percent downside. The company’s stock price fell below $290 during pre-market trading Monday.

Tesla’s decent happened shortly after an interview Musk gave to The New York Times Friday highlighting the pressures associated with leading the bedraggled Silicon Valley company. Tesla’s shares tumbled 9 percent to $306 the day after the interview.

The interview comes amid a tumultuous time for the company. Tesla stock fell over 15 percent since Musk announced on Twitter that he was considering taking the company private. Musk used recent discussions with the Saudi family as the justification for the tweet. 

Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought up 5 percent of the electric vehicle maker’s shares in 2018, sources told the Financial Times. The PIF’s position is worth between $1.7 billion and $2.9 billion at Tesla’s current share price. The stake makes the fund one of Tesla’s eight biggest shareholders.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is also reportedly trying to determine if the tweet was designed to hurt Tesla short-sellers. The agency is pressing Tesla’s board on how much information the CEO shared ahead of the Twitter announcement on Aug. 7.

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