Elon Musk tweets that a potential stock buyback is 'up to the Tesla board'

• Elon Musk dropped more clues about a potential Tesla buyback after hinting last month at the EV maker's first ever repurchase.
• Responding to a shareholder's tweet urging a buyback, Musk said, "This is up to the Tesla board."

Elon Musk dropped more clues on Monday about a potential Tesla stock buyback after hinting last month at the EV maker's first ever repurchase program.

Leo KoGuan — who claims to be Tesla's third-largest individual shareholder — tweeted that investors want Musk "not dump more shares for any reason bc investors are feeling the brunt of the dump; but wise to buyback now for any reason because it is the right timing and the right thing to do."

The Tesla chief executive responded hours later on Twitter by saying, "this is up to the Tesla board."

Last week, Musk disclosed the sale of nearly $4 billion of Tesla stock in part to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, sending shares to their lowest level since November 2020 on Wednesday. It followed the sale of billions of dollars in Tesla stock last year and earlier this year.

Shares of Tesla have been under pressure so far this year, and have declined 45%.

Musk stoked expectations for a buyback last month, when he told analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings call that Tesla was working on "the right process to do a buyback" anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion.

It coincided with his prediction for the company's valuation, saying he sees "potential path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined" — implying a market cap of $4 trillion.

Earlier that month, Musk teased a buyback while responding to another tweet from KoGuan, who said Tesla stock decline could only be reversed with a buyback or doubling in profit. Musk replied "Noted."