Tesla shares posted their biggest price gain since 2013 on Thursday, with shares of the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company surging 22% following a better-than-expected earnings report.

The stock surge pushed Musk’s personal paper fortune by $26 billion, further cementing his status as the world’s richest individual. Musk’s real-time net worth as of midday Friday was just over $272 billion, according to tracking by Forbes. While most of his personal wealth comes from the nearly 13% of Tesla shares he controls, the tech entrepreneur owns more than 40% of SpaceX, the space vehicle development company he founded in 2002, which is currently worth about $200 billion as well as controlling interests. on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and artificial intelligence firm xAI.

On Wednesday night, Tesla reported third-quarter earnings of 72 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 58 cents. Tesla’s total revenue rose 8% in the quarter to $25.18 billion from $23.35 billion in the same period last year. Net income rose to about $2.17 billion from $1.85 billion a year ago. The positive financial report, along with Musk’s comments about his expectations for a vibrant future for the company’s plans to develop fully autonomous vehicles, helped boost the stock.

Tesla stock’s rally follows an 18% plunge earlier this month, fueled by disappointing third-quarter vehicle delivery data as well as a the unveiling of the new Tesla CyberCab vehicle that left market watchers and investors disappointed.

Tesla investors are worried about Musk’s activism

Despite Thursday’s rally, some investors expressed concern about Musk’s public activities in support of former President Donald Trump’s bid to return to the Oval Office and the potential impact on Tesla’s value moving forward. Musk endorsed Trump shortly after the assassination attempt in July, donated tens of millions of dollars to political action groups supporting the former president and even appeared with the GOP candidate at campaign events.

On a forum Tesla routinely solicits questions from investors ahead of earnings calls, dozens of questions from retail shareholders about Musk’s political activities, his incendiary comment about X and his efforts to return Trump to the White House, according to a report by TO CNBC.

“Elon Musk has the right to express his political views, but his public activism appears to be at odds with his responsibility as CEO to protect shareholder value,” an anonymous retail investor wrote on the forum, according to CNBC. “How does Tesla approach this and confirm that Musk’s actions are not hurting sales or growth?”

Another investor asked if Tesla’s board is doing anything to ensure that “Musk’s political commitment does not affect Tesla’s core mission and protects shareholder value and brand integrity.”

CyberCab reveals crashes

Earlier this month, Musk unveiled a new two-door electric vehicle called the Cybercab that is designed for fully autonomous operation, a feature most notable in the car’s lack of a steering wheel or pedals.

Those attending the private event also saw a Tesla Robovan, another new model aimed at fully autonomous driving and capable of carrying 20 passengers. Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus made an appearance at the meeting, with a number of Android units mixing and serving drinks to guests, according to reports.

While the unveiling of the Cybercab and Robovan featured Tesla’s first new models since the launch of the Cybertruck in 2019, an event long on pomp and lack of detail, along with Musk’s history of falling short of promised innovation goals, investors soured despite his optimism . comment. Tesla stock prices fell 8% the day after the revelations.

Musk has repeatedly missed the deadlines he has made public for technological advances regarding Tesla vehicles. A report from CNBC notes several of those misses, including in 2015 when Musk told shareholders that fully autonomous driving was just three years away; in 2016, when Musk said a Tesla vehicle would be able to drive around the country without any human intervention by 2017; and in 2019, when Tesla’s CEO said his company would have 1 million robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road by 2020.

“Tesla has once again claimed that it is a year or two away from real self-driving – as the company has been claiming for a decade. “Really, the whole Tesla event had a 2014 feel to it, except that in 2014 there were no autonomous vehicles actually deployed on public roads,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who studies automatic vehicles. Associated Press in an email. “Now there are real AVs carrying real people on real roads, but none of those vehicles are Teslas. This evening did not change that reality; it just made the irony more spectacular.”

While Tesla, which launched its first vehicle in 2008, has dominated U.S. electric vehicle sales for years, the company’s market share has been in decline in the face of a growing list of electric vehicle offerings from competitors’ side. Tesla’s share of the domestic electric vehicle market fell below 50% for the first time in the second quarter of this year, but sales remain well ahead of all other US manufacturers.