---
title: "Elon Musk’s April Fools’ Prank Totally Backfired"
description: "Following Elon Musk's April Fools' prank that Tesla went bankrupt, the company's shares dropped to a seven-year low in the stock market."
date: "2018-04-03"
modified: "2018-04-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musks-april-fools-prank-backfired"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "april fools' day"
  - "elon musk"
  - "stock market"
  - "tesla"
---

# Elon Musk’s April Fools’ Prank Totally Backfired

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GettyImages-855377492.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/license/855377492" target="\_blank"\>PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images\</a\>\</em\>*

Elon Musk: Entrepreneur. Innovator. [Humanitarian](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-has-officially-started-shipping-tesla-powerpacks-to-puerto-rico>). Contender for the worst April Fool's joke of all time.

It all started, as many of Musk's antics tend to, with a series of tweets:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/980566101124722688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/980566116614291456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Good one, Elon. Except that maybe... this Tweet was a bit too prescient.

The next day, Tesla's stock [fell 7 percent](<https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-shares-sink-as-musk-jokes-about-bankruptcy-1522682691>), dropping to $248 per share. That's a 36 percent decrease from the company's peak value of $389, which it hit last summer.

Whether the drop was a reaction to Musk's April Fools' prank or simply the market doing its thing, no one can say. But if comedy is all about timing, Musk's was too soon.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/980880706627715072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

You gotta admit, it's a bold thing to say, especially for a man who heads a company that has:

- More than [$10 billion in debt](<http://www.autonews.com/article/20180403/OEM01/180409914/tesla-model-3-debt-elon-musk>)
- Just wrapped its [worst month](<https://www.schaeffersresearch.com/content/news/2018/03/28/tesla-stock-on-track-for-worst-month-since-2010>) on the stock market in seven years
- Recalled a massive number of [vehicles](<https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/29/17177888/tesla-recall-model-s-size-power-steering>) just three days prior
- Missed yet another [production](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/business/tesla-model-3.html>) milestone
- Faced scrutiny for the recent death of a [driver](<https://futurism.com/officials-tesla-model-x-autopilot-killed-driver>) of a vehicle in autonomous mode

And, oh:

- Narrowly [avoided bankruptcy](<http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-shares-the-miracle-that-saved-tesla-2015-12>) in the past

Maybe next year Elon should pick something else to joke about on April Fools' Day.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)