Elon Musk stated on Monday in an interview with Fox Business that he is running his businesses “with great difficulty” while working with the Trump administration.
His comments came after Tesla shares dropped to a five-month low.
Tesla Inc. saw its biggest decline in over four years, continuing its downward trend in 2025 as Wall Street grows increasingly worried about demand for the company’s electric vehicles. As a result, Tesla lost $130 billion in market value during a broad selloff, leaving its shares at their lowest point since October.
Musk‘s prominent position as the public face of DOGE is starting to impact the businesses owned and managed by the world’s richest man.
Investors have expressed concerns that Musk’s involvement in leading the Department of Government Efficiency to cut government spending is diverting his focus from managing his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
Tesla’s shares fell 15% to $222.15, significantly impacting the Nasdaq, which dropped 4% amid concerns that tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on key U.S. trading partners could push the country into a recession.
On Monday, Tesla’s market capitalisation loss surpassed the combined $86 billion stock value of Ford Motor and General Motors.
On Monday, X users experienced widespread outages, coinciding with a 15% drop in Tesla’s stock. Musk quickly blamed the X disruption on a cyberattack from Ukraine, without offering any proof.
Tesla stock declines, but Musk’s promises keep investors hopeful
Despite the recent drop in Tesla’s shares, the stock continues to trade at much higher multiples than other automakers, with supporters placing their bets on Musk’s promises of self-driving taxis and humanoid robots. Musk’s involvement in significant cuts to the federal workforce at Trump’s request has recentlysparked “Tesla Takedown” protests across the U.S. Meanwhile, Tesla’s sales in Europe have also declined. On Sunday, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Tesla showroom in Lisbon to protest Musk, with some holding signs reading “Boycott Tesla.”
-With inputs from Reuters