Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk changed his Twitter name overnight and told his 25 million followers there will be Tesla news on Thursday, without elaborating further.Musk is currently “Elon Tusk,” and next to it there’s an elephant emoji.
Tesla TSLA, +0.40% stock rose nearly 6% to end at $314.74, its highest close in three weeks, with Wall Street shrugging off the impending news as well as Musk’s latest controversy with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Musk’s latest announcement.
Musk is, of course, no stranger to Twitter controversies. On Monday, the regulator asked a judge to hold Musk in contempt over a tweet about the Silicon Valley car maker’s production goals. Musk has until March 11 to tell the court why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.
The settlement stems from Musk’s going-private tweets last year, when Musk said he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. As part of the agreement, Musk and Tesla agreed to have oversight over the CEO’s tweets that could contain material information to Tesla’s shareholders.
Tesla shares have lost 10% in the past 12 months, contrasting with gains around 1.8% for the S&P 500 index. SPX, -0.05%
(Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-tusk-tesla-ceo-changes-twitter-handle-says-there-will-be-news-on-thursday-2019-02-27)