Tesla stock jumps 45% in one month; Elon Musk sends message to Tim Walz: Yo Timmy ...

Tesla shares closed at $349.98 on Friday, capping off a 44.89% surge over the past one month. and boosting the company's market cap to $1.12 trillion. After months of criticism over Tesla’s falling stock price, Elon Musk responded to Tim Walz – former Democratic vice presidential candidate – with a pointed jab of his own. Musk celebrated the gain in Tesla stock on X, sharing a screenshot of Tesla stocks soaring to $347.70. He captioned the post, Kek - a word people online use instead of "lol" (laugh out loud).Quoting the post, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pulled back an old post by Tim Walz where he celebrated Tesla's stock struggles at $22. He posed a sarcastic question to the Minnesota Governor, asking “Yo Timmy, how’s your day bro?” with a clown face emoji.Mocking Tesla’s struggles in a post on X earlier this year, Walz wrote: “If you need a little boost during the day, check out Tesla stock.” He also shared a video in which he joked about adding Tesla to the Stocks app on his iPhone to watch its decline, quipping, “225 and dropping.”Taking the joke further, Walz added: “If you own one, we’re not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off, you know.”Musk hit back with a not-so-subtle comment then. He wrote “Sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the @JDVance portrait in the @WhiteHouse and thank the Lord”. The tech billionaire didn’t stop there. He called Walz a "huge j**k" and "a creep”. Later, Walz took a u-turn on his comment against Tesla stocks, saying hat he was “making a joke”.Elon Musk’s ties to the Trump administration have drawn heavy criticism, casting a shadow over his companies—especially Tesla. The electric vehicle maker has seen its stock drop nearly 40% in 2025, as public protests and backlash mounted over Musk's political involvement. Tesla’s brand has taken a hit in recent months, with demonstrations targeting the company and analysts urging Musk to distance himself from government roles ahead of last month’s earnings call. Some warned the company had suffered “unprecedented brand damage.”Musk’s own fortune took a major blow, falling by nearly $135 billion, or 31% this year. Still, there are signs of recovery, as on Friday, Tesla shares closed just under $350, marking the stock’s fourth straight week of gains.