Elon Musk net worth moved lower as Tesla shares fell about 13.5% on Thursday after weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings unsettled investors. The drop came after Tesla reported 31 cents per share, below Wall Street’s 51-cent expectation.
That kind of one-day decline matters because Musk’s wealth is tied closely to Tesla stock. When the shares fall, the paper value of his stake falls with them, and Thursday’s slide added to a year in which Tesla has lost about 27% of its market value.
Elon Musk and second-quarter earnings
Musk answered investor questions on Wednesday’s earnings call about Robotaxi and Optimus. He said, “Optimus robots would be Tesla’s biggest product ever” and described Robotaxi’s slow rollout as driven by “an abundance of concern for safety and worry that deadly accidents would result in negative media attention and a regulatory crackdown.”
Tesla’s second-quarter earnings also showed $5.8bn in spending and negative free cashflow of $1.1bn. Those figures left investors weighing sales and profits against the cost of Tesla’s push into AI, robotics and autonomous vehicles.
Robotaxi and Optimus
Robotaxis are available only on a limited basis in the US, while Optimus is not available to consumers. The gap between those products and Tesla’s spending helped keep the focus on whether the company’s capital outlays will translate into faster adoption or higher earnings later.
The stock move also left Tesla behind peers in the Magnificent Seven. reported that losses across the group wiped out $767bn from the market, while Shares of Google’s parent, Alphabet, fell 6.5% after it reported higher spending plans and its first ever cash burn.
For investors, the practical takeaway is straightforward: Tesla’s next share-price move is likely to hinge on whether the company can narrow the gap between profit expectations and its spending on Robotaxi and Optimus. Thursday’s slide showed how quickly those concerns can hit Musk’s wealth and the stock.
