Elon Musk’s rein as CEO of Tesla, Twitter, SpaceX near ‘end game’: Dan Nathan

• Elon Musk’s days as CEO of three high-profile companies might soon be over, investor Dan Nathan said.
• Nathan pointed to Musk’s mountain of debt from his Twitter takeover, as well as pressures facing Tesla.
• “He might be entering the end game here a little bit for being the CEO for all these companies,” Nathan said.

Elon Musk’s time running Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX could soon be over, according to investor Dan Nathan.

That’s because the tech mogul and world’s second-richest person is facing mounting pressures on Tesla stock that could force him to confront some harsh realities about juggling his other capital intensive and highly levered side businesses. 

In an in interview with CNBC on Thursday, Nathan pointed to the mountain of debt Musk used to fund his Twitter buy, purchasing the social media company for $44 billion last year with a combination of bank financing and cash raised from selling Tesla stock throughout the course of 2022.

But Twitter may only worth half the amount Musk bought it for. Twitter’s finances and the general chaos of Musk’s takeover of the company have damaged Musk’s reputation, analysts say, and it could cost Musk his CEO role at some of these firms, Nathan warned.

“He’s got all these banks on the hook for this debt that he can’t service based on Twitter’s businesses, so to me, he might be entering the end game here a little bit for being the CEO of all these companies and being that levered,” he said.

Tesla stock has rocketed higher in 2023 after a terrible performance last year. The stock this year so far has gained 33%, but that’s actually down considerably from earlier year-to-date gains of as much as 70% — and Nathan sees much steeper losses ahead for the stock, which he described as “broken.”

He forecasted shares could soon dip below $100 each, though his ultimate price target is $69 a share, implying a downside of 58% from Friday’s closing price of $163.58. 

“The fundamentals have shifted. Not a single analyst on the Street has downgraded this stock,” he said, referring to Wall Street’s reaction following Tesla reporting lower profit margins due to its price cuts on key models.

“They will be downgrading this stock lower, I’m just telling you that people, over the next three to six months or so. And that’s when you have a situation where, who knows if he’s going to be in control of this company in the not-so-distant future?”

He went on to cite demand issues facing Tesla, particularly from China, which are weighing on key metrics for the EV maker’s business. 

“Earnings estimates are coming down, margin estimates are coming down, delivery estimates are coming down, backlog is coming down, and inventory is going up. Does that sound like a good fundamental situation?”