--- title: "Tesla Investors Concerned Elon Musk Is Causing Huge Sales Drop" description: "As Tesla sales falter and its stock continues to slump, some investors are losing their patient with CEO Elon Musk." date: "2025-03-01" modified: "2025-03-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-investors-concerned-elon-musk" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Investors Concerned Elon Musk Is Causing Huge Sales Drop ![As Tesla sales falter and its stock continues to slump, some investors are losing their patient with CEO Elon Musk.]() *\Image: Andrew Harnik via Getty / Futurism\* 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." **More on Tesla:** *[Ads for Elon Musk’s "Swasticar" Go Viral as Tesla Crumbles]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()