Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and clean energy company, Tesla, continues to rise in the stock market leaderboard despite the global crisis.
The stock market performance of Tesla has surged upward despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused its competitors’ stocks to drop. According to Investing.com, Tesla’s shares could even triple throughout the rest of 2020.
The money is flowing and making people wealthy
The rise of the electric car company’s stock has boosted the stock riches of every employee in the company.
Tesla isn’t like most auto companies that simply offer employees stock options and grants. They also offer stock compensations for all of the company’s employees, according to Electrek.co.
Because of this, and the more than 200% increase in the company’s stock price this year, a number of “Tesla millionaires” have appeared. Everyone from Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother, to Zachary Kirkhorn, the company’s CFO, is benefiting from the rise of its stock price.
We just delivered our first customer cars from Gigafactory Shanghai, marking only one year from when the teams broke ground on the site. pic.twitter.com/UfUxEyRQv0
— Tesla (@Tesla) January 7, 2020
The one who benefited the most, however, was the company’s founder. Elon Musk is witnessing his wealth reach new heights due to the company’s performance.
He owns 34,098,597 TSLA shares which makes his stake in the company worth more than $46 billion. He is also slated to earn more if he meets certain benchmarks required of him by the board—which he is currently on track of achieving.
Tesla’s taunts
The company’s CEO poked fun at those who short-sold TSLA stock by selling “short shorts” on the Tesla website, according to FoxBusiness.
Sold at US$69.42[AU$99.20], the shorts were red satin affairs that had the Tesla logo and “S3XY” printed on the back. Musk posted a photo of the shorts on his official Twitter account.
The shorts, according to the Tesla website, have sold out and are currently now unavailable for purchase.
Is the share price increase justified?
Just one year ago, the company’s shares were priced at around $235—a far cry from it’s current $1,208 price. Investing.com further noted that this has caused Tesla to become the world’s most valuable automaker.
The fact that the company is achieving this at a time of worldwide pandemic is also surprising. However, the same article reports that Tesla has cornered the EV and solar battery market.
This claim is backed up by data from research and consulting firm Cairn Energy Research Advisors. The firm has said that Tesla has a significant market lead in the low-cost solar battery market.
Tesla has also performed well this second quarter, delivering 90,000+ units despite the COVID-19 global pandemic. Experts have determined that these factors justify Tesla’s meteoric stock price jump.
Featured image courtesy of Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine/Flicker