Tesla’s (TSLA) market capitalization has fallen below $500 billion U.S. as its stock continues to sink.
The electric vehicle maker’s share price closed at $157.11 U.S. on April 16, putting its market value at $492.30 billion U.S.
So far in 2024, Tesla’s stock has declined 37%, making it the second worst performing stock listed on the benchmark S&P 500 index.
The company’s shares have slid 9% lower in the last five trading sessions after Tesla announced that it is cutting 10% of its global workforce and paused manufacturing of its Cybertruck due to technical problems.
Tesla has now erased $290 billion U.S. in shareholder wealth this year.
The stock’s decline has also been caused by mounting evidence that demand and sales of Tesla’s electric vehicles is waning.
Last October, the company warned that demand was beginning to slow. Recent delivery numbers confirmed that Tesla’s global sales are decreasing.
At the same time, China’s BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles.
Now, Tesla says it is moving to focus more on self-driving vehicles, saying that it plans to unveil its long promised Robotaxi in August of this year.
Tesla is doubling down on electric and self-driving vehicles at a time when other automakers are pivoting back to hybrid gas-electric vehicles as consumer demand shifts.
Tesla is scheduled to report its financial results for this year’s first quarter on April 23.
