Tesla Short-Sellers Describe Failed Bets Against Elon Musk

TSLA august 2022

Elon Musk hasn’t been shy about his feelings on Tesla’s short-sellers, but a new report shows even his most bearish opponents recounting incredible losses.

Tesla short-sellers and bearish analysts discussed the effects of shorting Musk’s companies on a Zoom call organized by New York Mag this week.

Most of the analysts had predicted the stock to decline, like it has this year, though nearly all of them gave up shorting the stock long ago.

The Zoom call included notable Tesla short-sellers, including Citron Research’s Andrew Left, Noble-Impact Capital’s George Noble, Stanphyl Capital’s Mark Spiegel, GLJ Research’s Gordon Johnson and Seabreeze Partners Management’s Doug Kass, among others still.

In 2020 alone, Tesla short-sellers lost around $35 billion, before the automaker’s stock climbed even higher in 2021.

On the woes of watching Tesla’s stock climb while shorting, Left said “I was short, and I began just losing money every day.” Left continued, “You’re like, Ugh, is this gonna end? I mean, is this ever gonna end?”

Noble chimed in, describing Musk’s particular focus on nailing his short-sellers to the wall. “It was clear Musk was gunning for the shorts. Most companies, not so much. This guy? He made a sport out of it. There’s financial capital, which is your P&L, and then mental capital.”

Left even pulled out the Tesla S3XY “short shorts,” considered a troll from Musk and the automaker to his doubters.

When Kass said, “We have to all agree he’s a genius,” referring to Musk, the others disagreed. Johnson, a vocal critic of Musk, said, “This is one of the things that gets under my skin. People say this guy’s a genius. “He did this, and he’s creating batteries” — it’s all untrue!”

Left admitted he is short TSLA at around $755 per share, while Kass said “I’m short at $755 as well right now.”

When asked why they both just shorted Tesla? Kass said, “You know why. I’m having a good year. I want to get it fucked up.”

Musk applauded the U.S. Justice Department for opening an investigation into short-sellers earlier this year.