Taking a dig at Tesla short sellers, Elon Musk announced a limited edition of satin ‘short shorts’ over the weekend. They sold out in minutes.
The shorts are red and gold, and their description on Tesla’s website reads: ‘buyers will enjoy exceptional comfort from the closing bell.’ Musk posted a link to the website on his Twitter feed (to his nearly 37 million followers) and they sold out in less than 5 minutes. “Tesla will make fabulous short shorts in radiant red satin with gold trim,” Musk tweeted.
In the Tweet, he also mentioned that the shorts are selling at ‘Only $69.420!,’ referencing a tweet he sent out in 2017 in which he said that he planned on privatizing Tesla at $420 per share. He later clarified that that was meant for his girlfriend, but that didn’t prevent him from getting in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He had to pay an enormous fine and even step down as chairman of Tesla.
The shorts display the names of the Tesla vehicle models across the back: ‘S3XY.’ The launch of this item of clothing happened after Tesla more than exceeded the expectations for vehicle delivery last week, resulting in the company’s market cap skyrocketing to the highest it has ever been at $200 billion. On Monday (July 6th) alone, the company’s stock rose by 7.3%, its price at $1,296.76. This is a 460% rise compared to the same time last year.
What prompted this response from Musk is the short selling that many of Tesla’s investors engaged in. Short sellers are investors who borrow stocks and sell it, planning on buying it later when the price of the stock falls. Some well-known names who’ve shorted Tesla shares in the past are David Einhorn and Jim Chanos.
Despite the lockdown, the number of Tesla vehicle deliveries this year, at 90,650, only fell by 4.9% from the same period last year. The company exceeded the expectations of analysts, who predicted that only 72,000 cars may be delivered because of the closures in Fremont, California.
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