The 'Big Short' Protagonist Who Shorted Tesla... "Core Business Is Ruined"

"Stock Price $50, Market Cap $150 Billion Expected"
Concerns Over Uncertainty in Robotaxi, AI, and Autonomous Driving Businesses
"Investors Will Lose Patience"

CNBC reported on the 12th (local time) that Danny Moses, known as the real-life protagonist of the movie ‘The Big Short,’ has predicted a further decline in Tesla’s stock price. He previously forecasted the collapse of the U.S. market during the 2008 financial crisis.

[Photo by CNBC]

Danny Moses appeared on CNBC’s program ‘Fast Money’ and stated, "Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, talks about robo-taxis, artificial intelligence (AI), and autonomous driving to everyone he meets, but the core business is deteriorating," adding, "Tesla’s stock price still has a high potential for a crash."

Moses cited the downward risk factors for Tesla’s stock as "CEO Musk’s decision to cut 10% of Tesla’s global workforce, the uncertainty surrounding robo-taxis, and allegations of securities and financial fraud against Tesla." On the 8th, major foreign media reported that the U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether Tesla committed fraud related to its driver-assistance features. The allegation is that CEO Musk misled consumers by portraying Tesla’s driver-assistance features, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, as fully autonomous systems that do not require driver attention.

Moses predicted, "As people lose patience with Tesla’s opaque business outlook, the movement to hold Tesla stock for robo-taxi and AI investments will disappear," forecasting that "Tesla’s stock price will fall to $50, and its market capitalization will drop to $150 billion." On the 10th, Tesla’s stock closed at $168.47 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 2% from the previous session. The robo-taxi is scheduled to be unveiled in August.

Moses also identified ‘Wave’ as a strong competitor in Tesla’s autonomous driving business. Wave is a UK-based startup developing autonomous driving technology, which recently raised $1.05 billion (approximately 1.4 trillion KRW) in a funding round led by SoftBank Group. It is reported that AI chip leader Nvidia and Microsoft (MS) also participated in the investment.

Meanwhile, CEO Musk visited China last month and paved the way for Tesla’s local FSD launch. Tesla succeeded in obtaining a data security inspection approval for its vehicles from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and signed a mapping license agreement with Chinese portal company Baidu. Bloomberg News evaluated, "Tesla has removed the two most important obstacles for the FSD launch," adding, "China’s FSD approval will be a significant boost for Tesla, which has seen a quarterly revenue decline for the first time since 2020."