Makes sense to me. Cutting the workforce by 10% based on a "bad feeling" that the economy is going to tank soon, will make investors very nervous and worried. So I am not surprised the stock tanked today.
He seems convinced that the economy is going to tank soon. Things are somewhat chaotic right now, but I see a lot of things coming down the pike that will boost the economy. First quite a few European countries have had mandates to switch to electric vehicles this decade and the war in Ukraine has just accelerated those plans. The US is not as aggressive as Europe, but there is a push on here too.
The US is re-industrializing. The shortages from the pandemic made a lot of people sit up and take notice that China is not going to be a completely reliable source. China's continued disruptions due to their zero tolerance policy towards COVID has kept up the pressure to find alternative sources. China will also see a labor shortage in about 10 years and that will push them out of the market for cheaper manufacturing. The US is building automated factories to make a lot of things made in China now. That's going to require a lot of technicians to keep those factories running.
Elon is looking at what the threat of rising interest rates has done to funding for tech start ups. A lot of capital was pulled back because borrowing money is getting more expensive. It has hurt emerging tech stocks and start ups in general, but I think this is going to be short term.
Short term the markets always react emotionally to whatever is going on. Rumors about interest rates going up will tank the market as people scramble to save themselves from the crash they are creating by panicking. But then the market adjusts to the new conditions and things return to normal. With interest rates going up, there probably is some real selling being done by people who are over extended and selling assets to pay off loans that are getting more expensive, but it's amplified by the Chicken Littles.
Once investors get used to borrowing rates being a little bit higher (but still quite low compared to history), the markets will start going up again and money will start flowing into start ups again.
If Elon really was so concerned about start ups being starved, he could have taken the billions he's throwing at Twitter and start a venture capital firm instead.