Elon Musk's Tesla in trouble again? All about SpaceX CEO's latest move amid feud with Trump
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Tesla investors faced a rough start to the week Monday with shares dropping after Chief Executive Elon Musk's plan for a new US political party drew the ire of US President Donald Trump. Tesla stocks fell sharply as investors fear Elon Musk's launch of a new political party will present further problems for the electric carmaker. The company reported last week that deliveries fell almost 14% in the second quarter.Tesla shares fell nearly 7% in premarket trading on Monday, reported news agency Reuters, threatening to wipe approximately $70bn (£51bn) off the company's value when Wall Street opens. Over the weekend, Elon Musk announced he would launch the ' America Party ', voicing his displeasure over President Donald Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill'. He also suggested a strategy of targeting a few key House and Senate seats in 2026.Musk announced late Saturday that he was forming the America Party, after polling X users on whether he should and amid his persistent objections to the Trump-backed tax-and-spending legislation that is now law.Musk announced the creation of the America party on his X platform at the weekend. He wrote: 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America party is formed to give you back your freedom.'Initially, when Elon Musk came out in full support of Donald Trump, it created a consumer backlash. Now, with the Trump-Musk relationship taking an ugly turn, investors fear that the Tesla CEO will be distracted from his day job, or that the White House will punish his businesses."Very simply Musk diving deeper into politics and now trying to take on the Beltway establishment is exactly the opposite direction that Tesla investors/shareholders want him to take during this crucial period for the Tesla story," Wedbush's Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull, told clients in a note, reports Morning Star."While the core Musk supporters will back Musk at every turn no matter what, there is broader sense of exhaustion from many Tesla investors that Musk keeps heading down the political track," he said.However, despite the Tesla shares falling, the Space X boss remains comfortably the world's richest person, with a wealth of about $400bn, according to Forbes. Tesla is valued at just under $1tn but its shares have come under pressure owing to the Tesla CEO's relationship with Donald Trump.Trump on Sunday called Musk's plans to form the America party 'ridiculous', launching new barbs at the world's richest person. Trump posted to Truth Social that Musk had become a "TRAIN WRECK," and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — long a Musk foe — told CNN he expected the boards of Musk's companies would be opposed to his activities.In a post on the Truth Social tech platform, Trump wrote: 'I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks.'Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also weighed in on Musk's latest political ambitions, telling CNN's Face the Nation program on Sunday that Musk's strength lies in his ability to run companies."So, I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone. So I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities," he said.
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