'So high': Tesla shares cross $420 mark over a year after Musk buyout tweet

TESLA: Tesla shares traded above $420 on Monday, more than a year after Elon Musk tweeted he had “funding secured” to take the electric car maker private at that price, only to later give up under investor pressure and regulatory concerns.



In recent months, Tesla’s shares have had a run of good fortune on the back of a rare quarterly profit reported in October, news of production ramp-up in its China factory and upbeat early deposits for its recently launched electric pickup truck.

Orders for the company’s Cybertruck have reached close to the record set by its Model 3 sedans in 2016.

"Whoa … the stock is so high lol," Musk tweeted on Monday after Tesla shares crossed the $420 mark.

 

Whoa … the stock is so high lol

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 23, 2019

The number 420 is closely associated with marijuana as slang for the consumption of cannabis. It also refers to cannabis-related celebrations that take place annually on April 20.

The take-private tweet in August last year, at a time when Tesla was trading in the mid-$330s, had taken shares as high as $387. Later in the month, shares were closer to $320 amid intense regulatory scrutiny.

Musk to go off Twitter … again

The US Securities and Exchange Commission fined Musk and Tesla $20 million each for the $420 tweet. Musk was also forced to step down as chairman and must submit any public statements about Tesla’s finances and other topics to be vetted by a legal counsel.

Reuters reported earlier on Monday the company and a group of Chinese banks have agreed to a new $1.4 billion, five-year loan facility for the automaker’s Shanghai car plant.

Tesla shares rose over 3.6% in Monday’s session and is up nearly 65% since the quarterly report in October.