Tech billionaire Elon Musk says he’s starting a new political party, but Tesla investors aren’t thrilled.
Shares of Tesla plunged nearly 7 percent Monday, as markets reacted to Musk’s plans for the “America Party,” a third political faction aimed at rivaling Democrats and Republicans, and in response to President Trump’s renewed calls for tariffs.
Prominent Wall Street tech analyst Dan Ives said the billionaire entrepreneur’s latest political foray is “exactly the opposite direction that most Tesla investors want him to take” and is “causing exhaustion.”
“I think the board is going to have to get involved,” Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, told Bloomberg TV on Monday, adding that Musk is starting to cross “a line in the sand.”
James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, said Saturday that the firm would be postponing the launch of its Tesla-focused ETF due to Musk’s political party announcement.
“We deserve a full-time CEO, not someone fixated on sabotaging President Trump,” Fishback, known for proposing “DOGE dividend checks,” wrote on social platform X.
Trump was also quick to voice his disapproval on Truth Social, saying the Tesla CEO had gone “completely off the rails” and argued that third parties “have never succeeded in the United States.”
Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, had a falling out with the president over the Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful” spending and tax bill — which was signed into law on July 4. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates it could add $3 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote Sunday on X, declaring the formation of the “America Party.”
The question on Tesla investors’ minds: Where will he find the time?
Why are Tesla investors worried?
Musk’s alliance with Trump was good for Tesla’s stock — until it wasn’t.
Shares of Tesla nearly doubled after Election Day, but as Musk’s role in the administration grew, so did investors’ concerns about his focus, or lack thereof, on the EV giant.
The Tesla CEO allayed some of those fears in May when he left Washington and vowed to spend “24/7” at work, even if it meant “sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms.”
But that renewed focus didn’t last long, and the latest political distraction threatens to create new enemies on both sides of the aisle.
“I think in the view of investors, there’s really no upside,” Ives said Monday, warning that Trump could become a blockade to Tesla’s autonomous vehicle ambitions.
Ross Gerber, a longtime Tesla investor and vocal Musk critic, didn’t hold back online, writing in his own post that, “no one wants the Elon first party,” accusing the company’s board of being “Elon vampires sucking the blood of Tesla equity.”
“Waymo has solved autonomous driving. Meanwhile Elon is starting a new political party,” Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, wrote on X over the weekend.
Why is Tesla struggling?
Musk’s new political adventure comes at an especially challenging time for the EV maker.
Last week, Tesla reported a 13 percent drop in global car sales from a year earlier. Part of that decline has been attributed to Musk’s political forays, which have sparked protests and alienated many consumers in Tesla’s core market.
A recent AP-NORC Research Center poll found that about half of U.S. adults have an unfavorable opinion of Tesla. Even more, closer to 60 percent have an unfavorable view of the tech billionaire.
Tesla recently launched its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and while it’s been generally well-received by passengers, it’s also drawn the attention of federal traffic safety regulators after videos surfaced appearing to show driving errors.
Then there’s the problem of China — a vital country where Tesla’s market share has shrunk thanks to stiff competition from low-cost local rivals.
The Wall Street Journal put it bluntly Sunday: “Elon Musk Is Running Out of Road in China.”
But whatever the headwinds, investors want their mercurial CEO at the helm.
Instead, Musk will be splitting his attention across a range of ventures, including Tesla, SpaceX, the social media platform X, and now, apparently, a political party.
