Elon Musk launches bizarre Twitter rant causing Tesla shares to drop over 11%

Elon Musk caused shares in his company Tesla to drop more than 11 per cent after tweeting that the price is "too high".

In a series of tweets just after 4pm UK time (11am Eastern Time), Musk said he was selling nearly all of his physical possessions and would not own a house.

Then he wrote that "Tesla stock price is too high imo."

The share drop initally erased around $13 billion from Tesla’s market value and nearly $3 billion from the value of Musk’s stake.

After that he tweeted that people should be given back their freedom, in another protest of government stay-home orders to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The Tesla CEO then posted parts of the US national anthem.

The tweets came as Musk was getting close to getting a big payout from the company for meeting certain metrics including that the company's market value averaging over $100 billion for six months.

Even with Friday's decline, the market value was $129.5 billion.

Tesla initially resisted efforts by California authorities to shut its plant in the San Francisco Bay Area under the lockdown. However, on March 19 Tesla agreed to suspend production.

Mr Musk has remained an outspoken critic of the coronavirus lockdown.

The entrepreneur reportedly said in comments to analysts on Tesla Inc's earnings call that it was "fascist" to say people cannot leave their homes.

"This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom," Musk said.