As Tesla stock falls, some pension fund managers worry and critics rage
Since Elon Musk went to Washington, D.C., to slash the government alongside President Donald Trump, the stock of his electric car company Tesla has taken a significant hit, tumbling nearly 48% this year. During an interview this week, Musk addressed the difficulties.
"You're giving up your other stuff," Fox Business' Larry Kudlow asked Musk during an interview. "How are you running your other businesses?"
"With great difficulty," Musk replied with a sigh.
On Monday, Tesla stock closed down 15% after its worst trading day in five years. Stock in the company has dropped every week since Musk went to Washington, wiping out more than $700 billion in market value. And Musk's personal net worth has dropped $148 billion since Inauguration Day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
But it's not just Musk who is taking a hit. The stock plunge has caused outrage among some shareholders, who have publicly questioned Musk's commitment to his electric vehicle company or called on the Tesla board to replace him.
Another group that's now sounding the alarm: pension fund managers.
"This is a real cost to real people," Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News. "We're talking about firefighters, police officers, nurses who work in public. Their retirement dollars are at stake."
Frerichs, a Democrat, said he believes the drop in stock is due to Musk's work leading the governmental cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It's deeply political work, Frerichs says, that's driving half the country away from buying his cars.
"Michael Jordan was famous here for not being involved in Democrat politics, because, as he said, even Republicans buy sneakers, and he knew he didn't want to lose those customers," Frerichs said.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees approximately $1.2 billion in Tesla stock through the city's pension funds, echoed that sentiment.
"There's no real leadership. It is at the bottom of his list. And so we have not had at Tesla a CEO focused on selling EVs, on growing the company, on making money and returns for shareholders," Lander told ABC News.
Lander, a Democrat who is running for mayor in New York City, said he still has faith in the Tesla stock -- but that it won't be endless.
"But look, if they can't count on this stock, you know, and we have to look elsewhere in the marketplace, that's how this works," Lander said.
Tesla representatives did not reply to a request for comment from ABC News
Its not just Democrats who have called for answers from Musk. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy -- who supported Trump in the 2024 election -- said he had to "raise his eyebrows" as a stockholder himself.
"I like DOGE, I like what they're doing," Portnoy said in an interview on Fox Business last month. "But let me tell you this. If you are going to send out -- and you got to call it both ways -- if you are going to send emails to federal workers and say, 'What have you done for the last five days,' I think Tesla shareholders are entitled to ask their CEO, Elon Musk, 'What have you done for Tesla the last five days?'"
"Seemingly all he cares about right now is DOGE," Portnoy said. "Now, could it be coincidence the stock is down 25% since he really started this? I guess. But I think it's fair as a shareholder of Tesla to say, 'What are you doing for shareholders?'"
Some who are critical of Musk's role in cutting the federal workforce have targeted Tesla, vandalizing vehicles and protesting at dealerships around the country.
"We're here today rallying against Elon and what he's done," one Florida protester, Jeff Finkelstein, told a local news outlet. "Ever since Trump's been in, it's been more about Musk than Trump and we're just showing our frustration."
In Massachusetts, police asked the public for help after a suspect allegedly vandalized Teslas with images of Musk. The suspect, when confronted, said he had a right to do so because it's his "free speech," according to a social media post.
Musk himself replied to the post, writing, "Damaging the property of others, aka vandalism, is not free speech!"
