Due to the stock’s declining value, Tesla shareholders have recently had a rougher ride than drivers on Portland’s infamous unpaved gravel roads.
Ask the state pension fund, sometimes known as the Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS.
$135.3 million, or a tiny but not yet insignificant 0.7% of the overall fund, is invested in Tesla stocks through the PERS fund. Tesla’s shares fell sharply from its December peak of $480 per share to slightly under $300 on Friday.
Local activists are upset over the 1% holding (rounding up), pointing out that Elon Musk, the millionaire CEO of Tesla, appears to be President Donald Trump’s most powerful advisor and is actively purging the federal workers on Trump’s behalf.
Now is the time to liquidate the position! A user on Bluesky, a social media platform that emerged after Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded it, went by the moniker O.K. Computermeyer.
As of Friday, 1,500 people have liked the post, which coincides with protestors holding weekly demonstrations outside a Tesla showroom in Portland’s South Waterfront. Authorities are currently looking into a gunshot that occurred at a Tesla showroom in Salem on February 20 and damaged multiple electric vehicles.
This is not the first time that Oregon’s public retirement fund has been the target of politically driven divestment campaigns; previous campaigns have targeted fossil fuels and coal.
The fund’s investing strategy, according to Treasury officials, is primarily passive and constrained by state law to optimize returns.
In a statement released on Friday, state treasury spokeswoman Eric Engelson stated, “The fund is a large, globally diversified portfolio with exposure to virtually every publicly traded company.” We are required by law to operate in our beneficiaries’ best financial interests.
For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Zane Sparling reports on court proceedings and breaking news. You may contact him at [email protected], 503-319-7083, or pdxzane.
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