Tesla fell hard on Tuesday at the opening of the stock exchange day in the United States. The company saw its stock market value plummet by 17 percent. The significant decline follows after the company was not admitted to the leading S&P 500 stock market index on Friday. The fact that General Motors is taking a share in competitor Nikola probably also plays a role.
The exclusion from the stock market index came as a surprise to many analysts and investors. The company recently posted its fourth consecutive profitable quarter, which is one of the hurdles to get into the stock market index. In the end, that turned out not to be enough, instead of Tesla, sales platform Etsy was admitted to the leading S&P 500.
In addition to the exclusion, it was also announced last week that investment company Baillie Gifford, the second largest shareholder in Tesla, had reduced its position in the company. It was also announced on Tuesday that General Motors has taken a share in Nikola, a potential competitor of Tesla. General Motors is going to build the pick-up of that brand.
At around 4.10 pm (Dutch time), a Tesla share was worth 16.7 percent less. This means that a Tesla share costs around $ 352 (approximately € 299). Despite the sharp decline, it has been a good year for shareholders in Musk’s company; since January, the value of a Tesla stock has more than quadrupled.