Musk Says in Tweet He Is Considering Taking Tesla Private

Tesla has not confirmed whether the tweet was real - or if the CEO's account was hacked.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he is considering taking Tesla private when shares in the electric carmaker hit $420.

"Funding secured", the tweet added, offering no further details on timing or source of funding. The company did not immediately respond to request for comment.

"Yes, might take Tesla private", he said. The company had a market value of $58bn as of Monday's close.

At US$420 per share, a deal would represent a 22.8 per cent premium to Tesla's closing price on Monday, making it one of the biggest go-private deals with a price tag of about US$72 billion.

Tesla also made the news just before this tweet, when the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had amassed a previously unreported stake of "between 3 and 5 percent" of Tesla's shares. Tesla has always been one of the most-shorted stocks on Wall Street, but so far, the company has not seen the share-price meltdown that shorts expected.

When another person tweeted that going private "saves a lot of headaches", Musk replied, "Yes".

The BBC has been unable to verify the post was written by Mr Musk himself, but it has pushed the shares 6% higher. Musk has had feuds with regulators, critics and reporters, and questions remain about Tesla's production and manufacturing difficulties, long-term demand for its cars and uncertainty over funding.

After rising as much as 8.5 percent, the company's shares gave up some of their gains.