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Shares of Tesla fell over 3.5% after CEO Elon Musk directed abuse on Twitter at one of the British cavers involved in the rescue of 12 Thai children early in July.
Musk has since then apologized for calling a British diver involved in the Thailand cave rescue a "pedophile".
'The fault is mine'
In a series of tweets early in July, the Tesla CEO said he had "spoken in anger" after diver Vern Unsworth accused Musk and SpaceX engineers of orchestrating a "PR stunt" by sending a small submarine to help divers rescue the 12 Thai soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave.
READ: Tesla shareholders reject bid to strip Elon Musk of chairman role
Musk says Unsworth's criticism upset him but he should not have branded the diver a "pedo." Musk said, "The fault is mine and mine alone."
A number of analysts and investors, requesting anonymity, told Reuters that Musk’s comments were adding to their concerns that his public statements were distracting him from Tesla’s main business of producing electric cars. The stock sell-off knocked almost $2-billion off the company’s market value.
Tesla shares were at $307.20 in after-hours trading on Monday from Friday’s close of $318.87.
Musk's tweet, later deleted, had sent investors away from Tesla stock, which fell nearly 3%. Unsworth told CNN earlier this week that he is considering legal action.