Tesla's Turbulent Week at the Stock Exchange

Tesla’s stock has fluctuated over the past week as Elon Musk, the CEO of the company, tweeted about taking the company private at $420 per share. After the news rocked Wall Street, Musk sent out another tweet assuring followers that he had secured funding for the buyout through the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund.

Tesla has been accumulating debt and has yet to turn an annual profit. As a result, short-sellers have been betting against the company causing an indignant Musk to take to Twitter to lambast the naysayers. The announcement was a market-moving event causing frantic trading and the Tesla stock price to shoot up after the announcement, prompting the NASDAQ stock exchange to halt trading on that stock.

The Securities Exchange Commission has reportedly sent subpoenas to Tesla due to the announcement, resulting in a 3 percent drop to afternoon trading for Tesla shares. Many of Tesla’s board members are hiring lawyers, and there have been three lawsuits filed against the company for security fraud so far.