Elon Musk's tweeting may cost Tesla investors close to US$20 billion

[MICHIGAN] The prospect that Elon Musk could lose his job as Tesla Inc CEO over tweets may cost the carkmaker's shareholders close to US$20 billion.

Tesla plunged as much as 14 per cent in early trading Friday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Musk committed fraud by tweeting last month that he'd secured funding to take the company private. The regulator is seeking to bar Musk from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

At US$268.10 - the stock's lowest price in the first few minutes of regular trading Friday - Tesla had a market capitalization of about US$45.7 billion, down from US$64.8 billion at the close of trading on Aug 7, the day Mr Musk sent his take-private tweets.

BLOOMBERG