How tweets by Tesla's Elon Musk have moved markets

How tweets by Tesla's Elon Musk have moved markets
How tweets by Tesla's Elon Musk have moved markets Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021
By Reuters
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- Shares of Tesla Inc fell on Monday as chief Elon Musk, known for his Twitter banter, proposed the sale of about a tenth of his holdings in the electric-car maker after conducting a poll on the social network.

The poll asking Musk's over 62.5 million followers if he should sell stock garnered more than 3.5 million votes, with 57.9% of the people voting "yes".

Here is a timeline tracing Musk's candid Twitter posts that have impacted the market.

* Aug. 7, 2018: Shares closed up nearly 11% after Musk tweeted https://reut.rs/3o2nOEw during market hours: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."

Later that month, a post on Tesla's public blog announced that Musk had abandoned the attempted privatization process.

In September 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Musk for fraud and sought to remove him from Tesla. [https://reut.rs/3mTlpws]

* May 1, 2020: Tesla erased around $13 billion from its market value after Musk tweeted "Tesla stock price is too high." [https://reut.rs/3bSzqUY]

* Dec. 20, 2020: Dogecoin soared after Musk tweeted, "One word: Doge."

* Jan. 25, 2021 - Musk tweeted he "kinda loves Etsy", taking the e-commerce company's stock to a record high.

* Jan. 26, 2021: GameStop surged 50% after Musk tweeted "Gamestonk!!", along with a link to Reddit's Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group, where supporters affectionately refer to the Tesla CEO as "Papa Musk."

* Jan. 28, 2021: Polish games producer CD Projekt's shares rose after Musk tweeted "The esthetics of Cyberpunk are incredible btw....."

* Jan. 29, 2021: Musk adds "#bitcoin" to his Twitter bio, driving a 14% surge in the largest cryptocurrency.

In January, total market value of all cryptocurrencies reached more than $1 trillion for the first time. The billionaire has since taken the tag off.

* Feb. 4, 2021: Musk tweets "Doge" in reference to a cryptocurrency based on a popular internet meme. He later tweeted, "Dogecoin is the people's crypto." and "I am become meme, Destroyer of shorts." Dogecoin surged more than 60%.

* May 7, 2021: Musk tweeted "Cryptocurrency is promising, but please invest with caution!"

* May 9, 2021: Dogecoin tanked after Musk called it "a hustle" on SNL. Musk tweeted "SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year – Mission paid for in Doge – 1st crypto in space – 1st meme in space To the mooooonnn!!"

* May 12: Cryptocurrencies tumbled after Musk tweeted Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as a payment, and "Energy usage trend over past few months is insane."

* June 4, 2021: Bitcoin fell more than 7% after Musk tweeted "#Bitcoin", a broken-heart emoji and a picture of a couple discussing a break.

June 14, 2021: Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms surged when Musk tweeted "When there's confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions."

* Oct. 14, 2021: Musk tweeted he was in talks with airlines about installing Starlink, a satellite-based broadband service owned by his rocket company SpaceX. Shares of in-flight internet provider Gogo Inc fell.

* Nov. 2, 2021: Musk tweeted "No Contract Has Been Signed Yet" with Hertz, after the car rental firm announced a massive deal with Tesla. Shares of Tesla and Hertz fell.

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