Elon Musk faces significant losses after Tesla launched its self-driving taxi model.

Sunday, Oct. 13, 20:15h
By TN Agency

Tesla's stock dropped over 9% immediately after the We, Robot event, where the company launched its self-driving taxi, resulting in a loss of more than $15 billion in Elon Musk's net worth.

During the "We, Robot" event, Elon Musk officially introduced the Tesla Cybercab self-driving taxi and unveiled three main products: Robotaxi, Robovan, and Tesla Bot.

However, the event failed to impress many investors and analysts on Wall Street. The company's stock plummeted afterward, along with CEO Elon Musk's net worth.

Specifically, after the New York Stock Exchange closed on October 12, Tesla's stock saw a decline of over 9%. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk's net worth immediately dropped by $15 billion after this trading session. Nevertheless, with a total net worth of $240 billion, Musk remains the richest person in the world.

This is not the first time the financial community has shown a lack of enthusiasm for this launch. Previously, in July, Tesla's stock fell about 7% after the "We, Robot" event was postponed.

Since then, Tesla's stock value continued to decline until early August, before making a remarkable recovery in September, elevating Musk's net worth above that of McDonald's and Pepsi.

However, Tesla's stock has yet to return to its highest level of the year, which was achieved in July before dropping again this week.

The Cybercab prototype was proposed by Elon Musk around 2019, where the electric vehicle manufacturer aimed to operate its own fleet of dedicated robot taxis through the Tesla app.

Initially, Tesla planned to launch the Robotaxi or Cybercab in August, but it was postponed after a senior manager requested "significant design changes to the front."

The launch of the Robotaxi is part of Tesla's efforts to "gain autonomy." This year, the electric vehicle company has gradually shifted its focus from car production to technology development.

To realize this, Tesla laid off 10% of its workforce, most of whom were in the vehicle charging development team.