Tesla hits Musk's controversial 'funding secured' $420 a share target
Musk previously tweeted that he had 'funding secured' to take Tesla private at $420 a share
Tesla shares hit a record high of $420 on Monday, reaching the level that CEO Elon Musk said he had secured funding to take the company private.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 311.18 | -19.06 | -5.77% |
“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018. “Funding secured.”
Monday’s gains, which had the stock higher for the 10th time in 12 days, came after the electric-car maker agreed to a 10 billion Chinese yuan ($1.4 billion), five-year loan facility with a conglomerate of Chinese banks to fund its Chinese Gigafactory.
"Whoa … the stock is so high lol," Musk tweeted after Tesla shares hit $420 on Monday.
The advance also put further pressure on short-sellers, who had already lost $2.46 billion this year betting against the stock, according to data from the financial-analytics firm S3 Partners. A large portion of those losses has come after Tesla reported a surprise third-quarter profit on Oct. 23.
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Short-sellers are still are short 25.39 million shares, or 18.97 percent of the outstanding total, the S3 data showed.
Musk’s tweet led to a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him of making “false and misleading statements.” The SEC alleged Musk knew he had no deal in place to take Tesla private at $420 a share.
The two sides reached a deal in October in which Musk neither admitted nor denied the allegations. He also agreed to step down as chairman for at least three years and him and Tesla agreed to pay $20 million fines.
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Tesla shares were up 21.9 percent year-to-date through Friday compared to the S&P 500's 28.7 percent gain.