Last week, Tesla received a $1 trillion valuation after it was announced that car rental company Hertz planned to purchase 100,000 of the company's electric vehicles before the end of 2022. As a result of the massive valuation (Tesla became just the sixth United States-based company to break the $1 trillion mark) CEO Elon Musk's net worth reportedly jumped from around $255 billion, to around $289 billion, making him the richest person in recorded history.
However, the numbers might not be as simple as they seem.
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Yesterday afternoon, the Tesla Silicon Valley Club took to Twitter to thank Musk for the sharp increase in value of Tesla stock. (According to Complex, Tesla shares have gone up 33% since the Hertz announcement.)
"Super $tsla stonks. Thank you @elonmusk," the club wrote, including a screenshot of Tesla's increasing value in the stock market.
Hours later, Musk responded, and debunked any reports of a signed contract with Hertz.
"If any of this is based on Hertz, I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet," Musk clarified. "Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers. Hertz deal has zero effect on our economics."
According to Forbes, Musk's tweet caused Tesla stock to devalue rapidly.
"Tesla stock fell as much as 4% Tuesday morning after closing at a record high $1,208 on Monday," Forbes reported. "Putting the company on track to lose $42 billion in market value and ending a week of straight gains."
Despite the fall in value, Hertz maintains that they made an initial order of 100,000 Teslas, and that deliveries have already begun.
"As we announced last week, Hertz has made an initial order of 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles," director of communications Lauren Luster told CNBC via email. "Deliveries of the Teslas already have started. We are seeing very strong early demand for Teslas in our rental fleet, which reflects market demand for Tesla vehicles."
While the details of the current agreement between Tesla and Hertz is unclear, what is clear is that Hertz has begun implementing the electric vehicles into their rental fleet, despite Musk throwing a little water on the fire.
What do you think of the situation between Tesla and Hertz? Let us know in the comments.