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Tesla’s 3rd-largest retail investor bashes Elon Musk: ‘I have no choice but to act’

Steve Jurvetson / Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla’s third-largest retail investor Leo KoGuan is fed up with CEO Elon Musk.

As Tesla’s stock price (NASDAQ: TSLA) is down over 65 percent in the last year, shareholders have been offering polarizing takes on Musk’s past eight months, including conflicting points of view on his acquisition of Twitter.

KoGuan, who has a $3.8 billion net worth, according to Forbes, is speaking out against Musk and his quest to promote Twitter as a platform for free speech. “Is he the hero of man or the dreadful Dracula?” he wrote in a Tweet on January 4.

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The comments have persisted. On January 6, KoGuan pledged to continue buying hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions more Tesla shares, despite his current attitude surrounding Musk.

Most recently, he stated, “I am 100% in Tesla bc I believe in Elon Musk and Tesla. But he is killing [shareholders] and Tesla. If I knew, I wouldn’t invest in Tesla.”

“I have no choice but to act and speak out. I cry out to you for help!” he continued.

It is evident that KoGuan’s issue is Musk’s potentially newfound focus on Twitter. Referring to the social media platform as Musk’s “new seductive beauty,” KoGuan believes that Twitter gives the Tesla CEO the “‘dear leader’ power that he craves to decide who wins, loses, and dies.”

Others have pointed out that Musk’s net worth and massive fortune have been trimmed considerably since the stock price has fallen. KoGuan had a rebuttal as well, stating that Musk “abandoned Tesla,” and his stock sales were evidence that he is “the greatest financial genius of our time.”

“He cashed out $40B, his investment in Tesla is not nil, zero, but negative -$39B, but he owns 13.4% + vested 304 million shares. Paper lost $200B is phantom,” KoGuan said.

Interestingly, KoGuan stated he will still continue to believe in Musk and Tesla by investing further and purchasing more shares.

KoGuan is far from the first Tesla bull to speak out against Musk’s involvement in Twitter. Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, have been skeptical of the CEO’s involvement and focus on Tesla. Ives called Musk’s Twitter venture “a circus,” in November, explaining worries of brand deterioration.

At the time of writing, Tesla is up 8.90%.

Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla’s 3rd-largest retail investor bashes Elon Musk: ‘I have no choice but to act’
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