Tesla Shares Crash After Elon Musk Appears On Live Web Show Smoking Marijuana

The share price of electric car-maker Tesla plunged close to the lowest point in the company’s trading history on Friday after attrition challenge hit the company with the departure of key talent and a controversial appearance of Chief Executive Elon Musk in an interview. The company’s shares on fell nearly 6.3 per cent to $263.24, almost close to a 52-week low of $244.59.

Musk appeared on a popular podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, and was seen smoking a blunt for what was probably his first time.

Dave Morton, the chief accounting officer of the company, resigned stating that "the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations."

Tesla is also potentially facing a series of investor lawsuits and investigation by US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation over Musk’s tweet claiming that funding for a buyout deal was "secured".

The share price has tanked 31 per cent since last month when Musk stunned everyone by taking to Twitter to announce that he has secured funding to take the company private at $420 a share but later announced in a company blog post that he has shelved plans to take the electric car maker private.

Elon Musk initially claimed that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund has approached him multiple times in the last two years offering to provide financial support to take Tesla Inc private. Musk later announced that after his deliberations with Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, he understood that most of Tesla's existing shareholders were opposed to such a deal and will be scrapping the plan.