With the dust settling on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy social media outlet Twitter, analysts and investors are discussing the key question of whether Elon Musk can manage so many companies.
Elon Musk, who also runs brain-chip startup Neuralink and tunneling company Boring, will become Twitter’s interim chief executive after firing CEO Parag Agarwal and other company executives, according to people familiar with the matter.
“He’s doing everything he can,” said Dennis Dick, a trader at investment firm Triple D Trading. “You definitely worry that Tesla might not get as much attention as it has in the past because Twitter is going to be a big project for Elon Musk.”
Tesla continues to face significant risks. The company’s two large factories in Texas and Berlin, Germany, are struggling to expand production and also face growing competition from older automakers like Ford and GM.
Since Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter in April, the market value of Tesla stock has evaporated by nearly a third, more than twice the decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index over the same period.
Elon Musk has said he wants to “beat” the spam bots on Twitter and reduce restrictions on what users can post. But he did not say how he would achieve his goals or specify who would run the company.
Mike Ramsey, vice president of the automotive business at market research firm Gartner, also said Tesla’s leadership isn’t as clear as SpaceX’s, and that the company’s employees will have to step up and take charge of operations.
How Elon Musk changes his tweets could also affect Tesla’s sales, whether that impact is positive or negative remains to be seen.
Garrett Nelson, an analyst at market research firm CFRA Research, argues that “the acquisition of Twitter may give some customers pause, but at the same time, we think it may provide opportunities for new customers.”
Nelson and others believe Elon Musk can fill a variety of roles while achieving Tesla’s goals. “In our opinion, if anyone is capable of pulling off this kind of high-flying move, it’s Elon Musk,” he said.
