Elon Musk Speaks During A town Hall Event In Green Bay, Wisconsin

Elon Musk wears a cheese hat during a campaign event in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

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Tesla stock drops after Elon Musk says of DOGE: “It’s costing me a lot to be in this job”

Tesla has a lot of things going against it, including a distracted Elon Musk.

3/31/25 8:08AM

At a town hall yesterday in Wisconsin, Tesla CEO and head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk rallied support for a conservative state Supreme Court judge. He also noted the toll the latter role has taken on his electric car company, whose stock is down about 6% premarket.

“It’s costing me a lot to be in this job,” Musk told the crowd regarding his extragovernmental position, where he’s slashing federal jobs that’s made him and his company broadly unpopular. “My Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla stock went roughly in half.” Back in December, the stock was trading at nearly $480; it’s currently down to about $248.

Musk indeed has a lot to lose. Every time Tesla shares go down $2.43, he loses another billion dollars. (That means he’s lost about $6 billion on paper this morning.)

Many other issues, from full self-driving problems to increased competition, are weighing on the stock as well. Most recently:

Over the weekend, protesters picketed at hundreds of Tesla locations around the country as part of the “Tesla Takedown” campaign.
Analysts keep lowering estimates for Tesla deliveries, blaming, among other headwinds, slowing demand and backlash against Musk’s political forays. Deutsche Bank and Stifel were the latest to lower their estimates for Tesla’s first-quarter deliveries, which will be released this week. A Tesla-compiled list of analyst estimates predicts 377,000 deliveries will be announced, representing a decline from last year’s 387,000 first-quarter deliveries, rather than the “return to growth” Tesla promised.
President Trump’s tariffs are expected to negatively affect Tesla, too. CEO Elon Musk, Tesla leadership, and the biggest Tesla bull out there, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, have all said tariffs will hurt the EV company.

In the premarket, Tesla shares were trading at $248.23 as of 9:07 a.m. ET, lower than they were on Election Day.

Rani Molla11h

Tesla asks Trump not to repeal legal underpinning for carbon emissions rules

Electric vehicle company Tesla would prefer that the government didn’t roll back long-standing emissions rules, according to new comments from Tesla on a proposal to reconsider 2009 findings that said greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution and could endanger the public.

Tesla wrote:

“The Endangerment Finding — and the vehicle emissions standards which flow from it — have provided a stable regulatory platform for Tesla’s extensive investments in product development and production. This clear regulatory structure has provided incentives for continued innovation in motor vehicle technology and is vital to continued global competitiveness by companies based in the United States.”

Tesla relies heavily on regulatory credit revenues it receives from other automakers that don’t build enough electric vehicles. President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed this summer essentially eliminated the marketplace for such credits, which will cost Tesla about $255 million in revenue each quarter going forward. If the EPA proposal goes through, it would dismantle the foundation for tailpipe emissions rules in the first place.

Tesla urges Trump not to repeal vehicle emissions rules, climate finding

Tesla wrote:

“The Endangerment Finding — and the vehicle emissions standards which flow from it — have provided a stable regulatory platform for Tesla’s extensive investments in product development and production. This clear regulatory structure has provided incentives for continued innovation in motor vehicle technology and is vital to continued global competitiveness by companies based in the United States.”

$2.5B

Rani Molla14h

For $2.5 billion, Amazon has settled a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission in which the regulatory body alleged Amazon had tricked people into signing up for Prime and made it difficult to cancel. The sum includes $1.5 billion in redress to consumers, the Financial Times reports, and $1 billion in civil penalties — the most the organization has ever charged for violating its rules. However, it may be just a drop in the bucket to Amazon, which pulled in more than $12 billion in subscription revenue last quarter alone. Amazon will also have to alter its user interface to prevent mistaken sign-ups and to create an easier way to cancel. The stock doesn’t appear to be moving on the news.

Rani Molla16h

Cipher reverses course after Google deal, sinks 10%

After rising nearly 10% premarket on news that Google was taking a 5.4% equity stake in the company, Cipher Mining is now trading down about 10% after market open. It’s unclear why.

The stock is still up more than 90% for the month and more than 175% for the year.

Cipher Mining soars after Google takes stake as part of AI hosting deal

Rani Molla16h

Tesla slips as BYD outsells Tesla in Europe again

Chinese EV maker BYD outsold Tesla in the European Union again in August, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

Tesla’s stock is down nearly 3% today amid a broader sell-off of some tech-focused stocks, while BYD’s ADRs are up more than 2%.

BYD sold 9,130 vehicles last month versus Tesla’s 8,220, a feat BYD’s leadership has said it’s pulling off thanks to its wider array of offerings. Others have blamed Tesla’s declining sales in the region on CEO Elon Musk’s forays into European politics causing brand damage.

Tesla’s year-to-date sales have shrunk 43% in the EU compared with the same period last year, while BYD’s year-to-date sales grew 244%.

BYD began outselling Tesla in the region this April, but Tesla still has higher sales for the year, by nearly 20,000 units.

Jon Keegan

16h

Musk’s xAI sues OpenAI, alleging theft of trade secrets

Following a recent lawsuit against a former employee over allegedly stealing trade secrets, Musk’s xAI is now suing the company that executive left to work for — OpenAI. The suit accuses OpenAI of “inducing” recruits that it poached to steal trade secrets from the company.