Shares of Tesla tumbled 6 percent in early trading Friday after a New York Times feature outlined some serious struggles for CEO Elon Musk.
The electric carmaker’s stock is down 10 percent over the last year and has been especially pummeled in the last week. Shares are down more than 12 percent since Musk tweeted last Tuesday that he was considering taking Tesla private. The SEC began an investigation after the tweet and has reportedly sent out subpoenas for information.
Musk told the Times that the past year has “excruciating,” calling it “the most difficult and painful” of his career.
He and members of Tesla’s board are set to meet with SEC officials as soon as next week, according to the report. The Times also reportedthat the board is concerned about the CEO’s use of Ambien and other recreational drugs, which sources said could be fueling his controversial tweets.
Musk tweeted last week that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The public statement could be a violation of SEC rules.
The agency is also reportedly looking into whether the tweet was meant to hurt those betting against Tesla, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a source familiar with the matter. The Journal reported that the agency is pressing Tesla’s board on how much information the CEO shared ahead of last week’s Twitter announcement.
Last week, short-sellers betting against Tesla had roughly $1.3 billion in mark-to-market losses, according to estimates from financial technology and analytics firm S3 Partners.