Tesla Stock Falls As Elon Musk Falls Out of Public Favor

Anyone watching the stock market likely got a bit of a surprise at the end of February, when former marketplace darling Tesla took a nosedive. The company, which makes electric vehicles (EVs), has seen sales drop significantly in Europe, where the sale of other EVs continues to climb; U.S. sales have also stagnated, leading to a bleak picture for the company's financial situation.

Unfortunately for stockholders, Tesla doesn't appear to have just one single problem pushing stock prices down. And, according to some reports, the stock could continue to fall, with some experts saying it could be cut in half before this downward trend ends thanks to the company's controversial owner, Elon Musk.

Keep reading to see just how much Tesla's stocks have dropped, and what many believe is to blame for the company's sudden decent.

Tesla stockholders were in for a bumpy ride on Feb. 25, 2025. The opening bell signaled the start of the Tesla stock's swift decline.

When the markets opened in the morning, TSLA was at $327.02 a share. But, by 2:25 p.m. EST, the stock price had dropped down to $297.25. Electrek reported that Tesla stock looks poised to drop by more than 8 percent by the time the market closes on Feb. 25.

That figure may not seem like a big deal when you're looking at a single share, but when you consider that many investors own huge amounts of stocks — for example, as of February 2025, Musk was said to own 13 percent of the company's stock, which equals 410,794,076 shares, according to The Motley Fool — that number can really add up.

And in Musk's case, add up it does, to the tune of $10,019,267,513.60.

But, the loss can only be realized once the stocks are sold, which means that the company's figurehead won't lose his shirt if he figures out why his company's stocks are dropping, and fixes the issue before they fall any further.

Unfortunately for Musk, it doesn't seem like there's an easy fix, as experts say that Tesla's fall from grace has been a long time coming. What's worse, is that some pros are saying that Musk has no one to blame but himself.

Between his alleged Nazi ties, his relationship with the president, and his involvement with DOGE, an organization that has laid of thousands of federal employees, many people are avoiding Musk and his products as a show of resistance, according to Electrek.

Then there's the logistics of a company that is being run by a man who is so busy running other things. The Economic Times says that Musk's involvement in DOGE, X, SpaceX, and xAI have left him with little time to invest in Tesla.

And then there are the Tesla vehicles themselves, which The Economic Times say just can't keep up with the number of other EVs coming to market. Not only that, but part of the allure of Teslas was their self-driving capabilities, which experts say don't work. Not only that, but they are unlikely to work anytime soon, thanks to a lack of development when it comes to the technology needed to make them safe.

Part of the problem with Tesla's stock is its valuation, which one expert says is inflated beyond what the company is actually worth. Ross Gerber believes that the drop that began in February is just part of a correction, which he believes could cause prices to fall by as much as 50 percent before its done.

Gerber shared his thoughts with Business Insider, saying that he believed the car company's market capitalization — something that previously sat at $1.1 trillion — was so overvalued that he had his company reduce its own holdings in 2024 by 31 percent.

Tesla's stock is likely to continue to plummet through 2025, especially if Musk continues to be the face of the company.

The Pew Research Center released polling data on Musk on Feb. 19, 2025, showing that 54 percent of adults in the U.S. have an unfavorable view of Elon Musk. That's a large number of potential shoppers who are likely to show their distaste for the Tesla owner by boycotting his products.

Whether that's enough to make the richest man in the world change remains to be seen, but it seems like the experts agree that it could be enough to make Tesla investors sweat, which could lead to a major selloff of the company's stock in 2025.