• Home
  • News
  • Coins2Day 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
PoliticsTesla

Elon Musk admits he’s juggling DOGE and his other businesses ‘with great difficulty’ as Tesla shares tank 54% since December

Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
Down Arrow Button Icon
Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 11, 2025, 8:00 AM ET
Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One with President Trump
Elon Musk says running his companies, such as Tesla and SpaceX, is happening with “great difficulty” at the moment.Samuel Corum—Getty Images
  • Elon Musk’s growing political involvement and extensive workload across multiple companies, including Tesla and X, and his new White House role, have raised concerns about his ability to effectively manage them all. Tesla’s stock has dropped significantly.

Back when Elon Musk was merely running Tesla and trying to get Twitter out of bankruptcy, he admitted he was “worried” about the toll it was taking on his well-being. Now, a few years later—and while still also working on Neuralink, xAI, SpaceX, and the Boring Company—Musk has taken on another role at the White House.

With this workload, it’s reasonable to ask if any of the companies Musk has founded or leads get his full attention—and if they are suffering because of it.

A quick look at Tesla’s share price paints a somewhat murky picture.

At the time of writing, the EV maker’s share price is down approximately 54% from its peak in December, and down 41.4% for 2025 thus far.

Correspondingly, Musk’s net worth has fallen by $185 billion since its peak, also in December, now sitting at $301 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While the figures may sound alarming, in context they are less so: Musk is still the richest person on the planet, and sits $85 billion ahead of the next person on the world’s-richest list: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

But while Musk is still worth billions, Tesla shareholders cannot afford to be so relaxed about a significant portion of their stock’s value vanishing.

When Tesla’s tanking stock price was posted on Twitter, Musk responded: “It will be fine long-term.”

But in the short term, the EV maker has some pressing issues to address. Musk’s sudden interest in politics across the globe—not only in the U.S. But also the U.K., Germany, Canada, and Argentina—has prompted a boycott of the Tesla brand.

This has included customers canceling orders, showrooms and charging stations being set on fire, cybertrucks set alight, and foreign politicians supporting voters who shun the brand.

These issues would be enough to challenge any CEO—never mind an individual who has also been tasked with cutting $1 trillion in federal government spending.

When Musk was asked by Fox News how he was managing to run his businesses, he responded: “With great difficulty.”

The Tesla CEO didn’t expand on that difficulty, instead moving the conversation back to politics: “I’m just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud, and so far we’re making good progress.”

Tesla did not immediately respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.

Problems at X

Tesla isn’t Musk’s only cause for concern.

While Linda Yaccarino is the woman leading social media platform X, Musk is the owner and uses it as a mouthpiece for many of his political announcements.

This organization, too, is being targeted. Musk posted on the platform: “There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X. We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

It seems the positive sentiment that once buoyed Musk’s businesses has turned: Back in December, Tesla share prices bounced as buyers expected favorable rhetoric out of Washington given the close relationship between Musk and President Trump.

The relationship between the two has indeed proved to be close—so much so that the president has promised to buy a new Tesla amid the boycott.

But it is this very alliance, and Musk’s political actions more generally, that are now at the root of some of Tesla’s problems.

Market take

Analysts are carefully watching Tesla’s movements, though they have yet to make any catastrophic predictions.

Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid, for example, wrote in a note seen by Coins2Day this morning: “Within the Mag-7, Tesla (–15.43%) saw its worst day since September 2020 … It’s now trading back to December 2020 levels. So it shows how quickly sentiment can change for such companies.”

Likewise Goldman Sachs wrote last week its rating on Tesla stock remains neutral, but lowered its 12-month price target to $320 from $345.

Goldman equity researchers Mark Delaney, Will Bryant, Morgan Leung, and Aman Gupta added that Tesla is facing strong competition in China—particularly when it comes to full self-driving software—as well as flatter demand in the U.S. And Europe.

Overall, downside risks include “potentially larger vehicle price reductions than we expect, increased competition in EVs, slower EV demand, delays with products/capabilities like FSD/4680, key person risk, the internal control environment, margins, and operational risks associated with Tesla’s high degree of vertical integration.”

Coins2Day Brainstorm AI returns to San Francisco Dec. 8–9 to convene the smartest people we know—technologists, entrepreneurs, Coins2Day Global 500 executives, investors, policymakers, and the brilliant minds in between—to explore and interrogate the most pressing questions about AI at another pivotal moment. Register here.
About the Author
Eleanor Pringle
By Eleanor PringleSenior Reporter, Economics and Markets
LinkedIn icon

Eleanor Pringle is an award-winning senior reporter at Coins2Day covering news, the economy, and personal finance. Eleanor previously worked as a business correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U.K. She completed her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Coins2Day 500
  • Global 500
  • Coins2Day 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Coins2Day Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Coins2Day Brand Studio
  • Coins2Day Analytics
  • Coins2Day Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Coins2Day
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Coins2Day Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Coins2Day Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.