Tesla has shed around $200 billion in market value since Elon Musk starting dumping stock

• Tesla's market capitalization has fallen around $200 billion since Elon Musk started selling stock over a week ago.
• That's roughly the entire value of some of the US' biggest companies, such as Morgan Stanley.

Tesla has lost around $200 billion in market value since its chief executive Elon Musk started selling billions of dollars of stock more than a week ago and kicking up a series of Twitter storms.

That's more than the total value of some of the biggest US companies, such as Morgan Stanley, which is worth around $180 billion.

Tesla's market capitalization hit a record high of $1.25 trillion on November 4, when shares peaked at $1,243.49. It then stood at around $1.23 trillion on November 5, at the end of the week.

But Tesla stock has since tumbled around 15%, taking the market cap as low as $1 trillion on Monday and around $1.05 trillion on Tuesday. During that time, Musk has sold around $7.8 billion worth of stock in the company.

On top of the share sales, Musk's antics on Twitter have also appeared to drive the sell-off. He first asked his followers more than a week ago whether he should dump 10% of his holdings in Tesla, which was worth around $21 billion at that point, leading to a drop in the share price as soon as the markets opened.

The stock also fell on Monday after Musk criticized Senator Bernie Sanders on Twitter this weekend and threatened to sell more shares.

"Elon Musk can often flitter between hero and villain status, with the entrepreneur seemingly willing to talk down assets even if it comes at his own expense," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at London-based trading platform IG.

"Shareholders will hope that near-term volatility ultimately resolves into another push towards record highs for the world's most valuable car company."

Musk is no stranger to controversy when it comes to his tweets and Tesla stock. JPMorgan on Monday filed a $162 million suit against Tesla in a dispute about Musk's 2018 tweet in which said he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share.

Ed Moya, senior market analyst at trading platform Oanda, said the drop in the stock may not all be to do with Musk.

"Tesla is now a profitable auto manufacturer that is facing rising competition, which is having some institutional investors reduce their Tesla holdings in favor of EV and charging station bets," he said. "The growth potential is far more attractive with Rivian, Lucid, and even GM."

However, Tesla stock remains more than 150% higher than it was a year ago, with investors betting that the company will lead the green revolution in transport. The stock was up 3.1% to $1,044.52 on Tuesday.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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