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Tesla Stock Drops Following Elon Musk’s April Fools’ Day Bankruptcy Tweet

REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Katie Jerkovich Entertainment Reporter
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Tesla Inc. stocks dropped on Monday after co-founder Elon Musk tweeted about being “bankrupt” on April Fools’ Day, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The shares dropped by 7 percent before they bounced back a bit Monday morning and closed just down 5 percent at $252.48. In all, the shares have dropped by 35 percent from last year amid an investigation into a fatal crash of a Model X SUV and a recall of all Model S sedans built before 2016.

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 07: Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity, attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2015 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Many of the world's wealthiest and most powerful business people from media, finance, and technology attend the annual week-long conference which is in its 33nd year. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

SUN VALLEY, ID – JULY 07: Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity, attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2015 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Many of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful business people from media, finance, and technology attend the annual week-long conference which is in its 33nd year. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The company also is expected to miss its first quarter production goals of producing 2,500 Model 3 cars a week by the end of this month.

All of this bad news, plus Musk’s tweets on Sunday joking about the company being bankrupt clearly did not improve things.

“Important news in a few hours …,” Musk tweeted.

“Tesla Goes Bankrupt
Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 — Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can’t believe it,” he added.

“Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by ‘Teslaquilla’ bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks. This is not a forward-looking statement, because, obviously, what’s the point. Happy New Month,” he continued, as he posted a picture of him holding up a cardboard sign that read, “Bankwupt.”