Elon Musk’s problems don’t seem to be easing up, even as Tesla (TSLA) stock gradually trends upward.
His personal fortune, largely tied to Tesla’s stock price, has taken a significant hit. In fact, Sherwood News reports that he’s lost more than $100 billion since December and that each time TSLA dips $2.43, he loses another billion dollars.
Some investors have trimmed their positions while interest in TSLA from short sellers has gradually increased. Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts have issued more measured takes as Tesla’s European sales decline and Musk’s behavior continues to spark concern.
Given how far the stock has fallen since then, it makes sense that people would lose faith in both Musk and Tesla. But as it turns out, that list includes several prominent company insiders who’ve recently opted to trim their positions.
People who are part of Elon Musk’s team at Tesla have rushed to ditch their shares recently.
People close to Musk are rushing to offload Tesla shares
Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that Tesla faces a complicated future. Musk hasn’t spent much time at any of the company’s manufacturing facilities lately, choosing to focus on his new responsibilities on Capitol Hill.
However, as Musk has doubled down on his work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), consumer sentiment toward Tesla has shifted globally, as evidenced by the outrage against the company. This has led to shares falling and investors seizing the opportunity to take profits while they can.
Related: Tesla stock declines could cost Elon Musk something important
According to reports, several prominent Tesla insiders have decided to start offloading their shares, not wanting to expose themselves to further risk stemming from Musk’s leadership. One recent seller is Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, who offloaded 75,000 TSLA shares in February 2025, per an SEC Form 4 filing.
Kimbal is a significant shareholder and a member of Tesla’s board of directors. The younger Musk isn’t the only person with close ties to the company who opted to sell recently, though.
BREAKING – TESLA INSIDERS DUMPING THEIR STOCK
Board members:
– Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal – sold $27 million
– Rupert Murdoch’s son James – sold $13 million
– Board chair Robyn Denholm – sold $75 million
Plus CFO Vaibhav Taneja – sold $5 million$TSLA down 53% since December
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) March 19, 2025
“Last week, longtime Musk ally James Murdoch -— the estranged son of Fox boss Rupert Murdoch and a board member since 2017 -— became the latest to do so, exercising a stock option and selling shares worth approximately $13 million, according to an SEC filing. The sale occurred on March 10, coinciding with the stock’s largest single-day decline in five years.”
Other sellers include Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja, who recently offloaded $1.7 million worth of shares, and chairman of the company’s board of directors Robyn Denholm, who has reportedly made two sales over the past five weeks, totaling $75 million in offloaded shares.
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The outlet also notes that throughout November and December 2024, other Tesla insiders made similar moves, offloading sales as Tesla stock mostly rose. However, the fact that these sales came while the stock tumbled indicates an apparent lack of faith that the company will recover.
The road ahead for Tesla looks bumpy as insiders duck and run
Insiders selling their shares in a company is fairly common and doesn’t always impact share prices. However, the fact that some of the company’s most prominent executives and board members are rushing to offload shares suggests that worse days are ahead.
Jay Ritter, Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida, recently spoke to ABC about the implications of this trend and how investors should regard it. “Whenever insiders, including directors, are selling shares, it’s not a positive signal,” he stated.
Related: Elon Musk gets more bad news as big tech CEO takes over his rival
Ritter also noted that “an exception applies to the predetermined sales plan adopted by Denholm in July 2024” and that other insiders have opted to sell at a bad time for the company, which indicates a lack of confidence in Tesla’s future.
In August 2024, Tesla’s board of directors voted to grant Musk a $56 billion pay package, which some argued was too much. The fact that board members are dumping TSLA shares suggests that they may be rethinking this decision.
TheStreet recently reported that institutional investors have taken the opportunity to scale back their TSLA stock positions before shares fall even further. Now it seems that company insiders have decided to do the same, not wanting to risk even further losses as economic conditions worsen and Musk’s leadership shows no signs of improving.
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