Tesla
CEO Elon Musk headed to Israel as he continues to address the fallout from a controversial tweet condemned by the White House as anti-Semitic.
Musk, on Monday, is slated to meet with Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog, as well as with families whose loved ones were kidnapped by the terrorist group Hamas, The Wall Street Journal reported. “In their meeting, the president will emphasize the need to act to combat rising anti-Semitism online,” said Herzog in a Sunday announcement.
President Herezog’s office and X, formerly Twitter, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
It comes less than two weeks after Musk endorsed a claim, on Nov. 15, that Jewish communities are pushing hatred against white people in a series of posts on X. His remarks drew condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, the White House, and others. And several big companies, including
Apple
(AAPL) and
Walt Disney
(DIS), suspended advertising on X.
Musk defended himself against claims he is anti-Semitic, and on Nov. 19 he said on X: “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.”
Along with directly addressing claims of anti-Semitism on X, Musk followed through on a threat to sue progressive media-monitoring nonprofit Media Matters.
The watchdog group published an article on Nov. 16 that showed advertiser content next to pro-Nazi content on X. In response, several big advertisers including
International Business Machines
(IBM) paused ads on the social-media platform.
The suit explains how X believes Media Matter Media Matters conducted research to skew results. Media Matters called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
X, which Musk took over a little more than a year ago, isn’t a publicly traded company anymore. Tesla investors, however, have been following the situation, wondering if any brand damage could impact their investment.
Losses at X, stemming from less advertising revenue, could lead to Musk selling Tesla stock, his main source of capital.
Large stock sales from a CEO can impact any company’s stock, and Tesla is no exception. Musk sold billions of dollars of Tesla stock throughout 2022 to help fund his purchase of the social-media platform. From the time he tweeted “I made an offer” for Twitter on April 14, 2022, until he said he was done selling stock in late December 2022, Tesla shares fell more than 60%.
Stocks in general were falling at the time: The
Nasdaq Composite
was off more than 20% over the same span. Still, selling large blocks of shares moves stock prices. What’s more, investors don’t want to add to positions if they know large stock sales are coming, which can create an overhang.
Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was down about $7, or 3%, since Musk endorsed the controversial tweet on Wednesday, Nov. 15, while the Nasdaq has gained roughly 1%.
Tesla stock was up 0.1% in premarket trading Monday while
S&P 500
and Nasdaq Composite futures were both down about 0.2%.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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