Believing Tesla stock just short of junk and that it would fall, renowned money manager Jim Chanos' bet it would fall hard saw him take a tumble when it jumped, making gloating owner Elon Musk the world's richest man.
He changed his advice to ‘put’ and congratulated Musk and the electric car company for continuing to have a hold on its admirers after he said Tesla was “a walking insolvency,” which has turned out to be way worse than wrong, at least for now.
Since he started betting against Musk and his cars, Tesla stock went up more than 2,000 percent, making it nearly impossible for Chanos and his fellow short-sellers to stay in their positions and taking a financial beating too, The New York Post reported.
Musk was happy to take shots back in November, 2019 when he tweeted, “So many reporters gave Chanos airtime when he called Tesla a worthless fraud. Now that he has been proven wrong, silence…”
That was before Chanos admitted his investment was “painful” and tipping his hat to Musk, saying “Job well done so far.’” Not so shocking after all.