Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

Reader 1

Patrick Van Horn

Reader 2

Roberto Pedace

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Abstract

In April 2022, Elon Musk made an unsolicited bid to acquire Twitter. Utilizing an event study methodology, this paper studies the impact of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition announcement on the stock returns of Tesla, and that of its competitors in the Electric Vehicle Industry and beyond. The study uncovers how the worth of a company like Tesla might be tied to that of its CEO, and subsequently the power such a CEO might possess in terms of influencing stock market behavior. It further factors in how idiosyncratic characteristics of a company such as product differentiation, and geographical market reach potentially impact a company’s returns. The findings indicate that in the short-term window surrounding the announcement of the Twitter deal Tesla stocks experienced a statistically significant negative return, thereby indicating that Elon Musk’s actions remain vital to Tesla’s stock market performance. Additionally, the results indicate that the effects of the event do not trickle down further into the market and that individual characteristics of the competitor companies potentially provide insulation to their stocks from experiencing negative shocks as significantly as Tesla. Overall, the findings suggest that Elon Musk possess limited sway in the market for Electric Vehicles and Vehicles in general, and that his power is limited to Tesla.

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