Following Elon Musk’s abusive comment directed at the British caver involved in the rescue of 12 Thai children last week, shares in Tesla fell over 3.5 percent.
The company’s chief executive called Vern Unsworth a “pedo” on Twitter after Unsworth criticized Musk’s proposal to use a small submarine to rescue the boys in Thailand.
Unsworth said Musk’s submarine “wouldn’t have made the first 50 meters into the cave” and was “just a PR stunt.”
“The submarine, I believe, was about five-foot-six long, rigid, so it wouldn’t have gone round corners or round any obstacles,” he added.
Musk retaliated in a series of tweets, saying: “Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves. Only people in sight were the Thai navy/army guys, who were great. Thai navy seals escorted us in — total opposite of wanting us to leave.”
“Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” he added in later tweets, which have since been deleted.
Shares in the group were at $307.20 in after-hours trading on Monday, down from Friday’s close of $318.87.
Musk has previously stated that he should stay clear of Twitter when responding to social media.
“I have made the mistaken assumption — and I will attempt to be better at this — of thinking that because somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me that it is open season. And that is my mistake. I will correct it,” he told Bloomberg.
Shares in Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed on Monday down 2.75 percent at 310.10.