"Please share five things you did for Tesla shareholders this week."

You've heard of Tesla owners getting fed up with Elon Musk. Now, so are some Tesla investors, none too pleased that their precious stock is taking a nasty hit.

It's not hard to see why. The automaker's shares fell for six straight days as of Thursday, continuing a remarkable decline of 25 percent since the start of the year. The losing streak finally came to an end on Friday, but it's a small reprieve amidst a lengthy slump.

In better times, Musk might've been able to write off the tumble as a blip, a momentary market fluctuation, since the hype-driven stock has always tended to be volatile. But now that Musk is busy gleefully cutting funding and firing federal employees — not to mention tweeting hundreds of times per day — his divided attention is rubbing his investors the wrong way.

Losing their patience, some are now mocking Musk's controversial threat to fire federal workers if they didn't send an email explaining what they've accomplished in the past week.

"Please share five things you did for Tesla shareholders this week," celebrity photographer and Tesla investor Jerry Avenaim tweeted in response to Musk on Wednesday, inspiring copycats. "Or are you working remotely? Asking for all of us." 

Musk catching flak from his own backers is rare, but it happens. Last year, some Tesla investors refused to approve Musk's multi-billion dollar pay package, criticizing him for no longer being focused on the company.

Tesla's stock woes are a reflection of ominous business fundamentals. It had a rocky 2024, with its net profits plunging by 71 percent and revenue from vehicle sales shrinking by over $5 billion.

If investors were hoping for a fresh start in 2025, it's looking like anything but. So far, Tesla's sales in Europe are down 45 percent year-over-year, with even the most EV-enthusiastic markets like Norway seeing new registrations tumble by over a third. Sales have also slowed in China, slipping by 11.5 percent last month. Meanwhile, Chinese competitor BYD has surpassed Tesla as the largest EV manufacturer in the world, and for the first time, outsold Tesla in the UK.

That hints at a deeper issue for Tesla: it's facing steeper competition than ever — so the faltering stocks can't be totally blamed on its polarizing leader. On the other hand, that arguably means the automaker should be more concerned about its image — which is inextricably tied to Musk — than ever.

"I am completely convinced that the CEO's reputation goes along with the success of the company," Paul Argenti, a communications professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, told Axios. But, "you don't want the CEO to be the only source of brand equity for the company," Argenti added. "That's a disaster, and we've seen that happen before with examples like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs or Martha Stewart."

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