Wall Street Calls Trump-Musk Spat ‘Disaster’ for Embattled Tesla

For months, Tesla shareholders were tormented by Elon Musk’s role in the administration of President Donald Trump. But any relief brought by his formal government exit last week quickly turned to fear as the electric-vehicle maker’s chief executive traded barbs with his former boss.

Tesla Inc.’s stock plummeted 14% on Thursday after a rift over Trump’s proposed tax legislation exploded into an all-out public feud with the president threatening to end government contracts and subsidies for Tesla and Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The rout shed $153 billion from Tesla’s market value, the biggest one-day drop on record, while yielding short sellers $4 billion in gains, according to data from S3 Partners.