Tesla shares open lower after a week of heavy losses

[BENGALURU] Tesla Inc's shares slipped in early trading on Monday, adding to a week of heavy losses after chief executive officer Elon Musk offloaded a combined US$6.9 billion worth of shares in the world's most valuable car maker.

Shares in the company, which lost some US$187 billion in market value over the past week, were down 2.49 per cent at US$1,007.66.

If its shares drop below US$995.75, then Tesla's market value would slip below US$1 trillion, a milestone it breached late last month after securing its biggest-ever order from car rental firm Hertz.

On Sunday, the world's richest person got into a spat with Bernie Sanders after the US senator demanded the wealthy pay their "fair share" of taxes.

Kunal Sawhney, chief executive of equity research firm Kalkine Group, said: "Tesla shares have been sinking post the sale based on a Twitter poll last week. And Musk's Sunday tweet deriding a senior politician may add pressure on the stock in the coming weeks.

"By offloading shares worth billions of dollars, Elon Musk is likely to accrue a tax bill of around US$15 billion." He sold 6.36 million Tesla shares last week and now needs to offload about 10 million more to fulfill his pledge to sell 10 per cent of his holdings in the electric-vehicle maker.

REUTERS