That's a bid reductionist. It's more about the knock-on effects of CEO's behavior on future revenues / profits. Market participants are forward looking, as you know. Just about everyone thinks Tesla will continue to grow, as you also know. I think that, to an extent, the question we're seeing play out in the stock price is - how much will they grow? And the $200B-$300B question right now is: is that growth now less (or even considerably less) than it was before the CEO became such a controversial figure? And even worse, this question is being asked in the face of a looming recession, when the floor for Tesla demand would be appreciably lower than it otherwise would be, so the question of growth is even more front-of-mind.
Do I think there are market participants looking to milk this scenario for all it's worth, thereby exacerbating it? Absolutely. But I think it is folly to deny that there are red flags that allow those very participants to exploit the situation to this extent.
I know this board is full of hardcore bulls who have stared down some pretty wicked FUD in the past, and those instincts have served many of us extremely well. I think those very same instincts may now be doing a disservice to some within this community, because it has created a blindspot to potentially legitimate concerns. And why do I think it matters what this community thinks? Why spend the time debating it on this board? Because I think that we, as shareholders and staunch defenders of this company - some of us from its earliest days - have a voice that can collectively, and eventually, filter back to decision makers within the company and effect change if it is needed.
