Musk offers apology after shareholder pressure mounts on Tesla boss

Hours after seeing Tesla’s share prices tumble on the back of his latest Twitter spat, Elon Musk has apologised for his unseemly outbursts.

As revealed by Coin Rivet yesterday, the SpaceX and Tesla chief watched his already-beleaguered stock take a nosedive after he made some ugly comments toward the dive team behind the Thai cave rescue mission where 12 boys and their football coach were trapped deep within a flooded cave system.

Musk singled out British diver Vern Unsworth for a particularly barbed attack in tweets he later deleted.

The South African-born entrepreneur apologised to his companies, his shareholders and then to Unsworth and the rescue teams after mounting pressure from investors who were already deeply irked by Musk’s previous outbursts. Several online rifts have involved cryptocurrency – something which Musk increasingly appears to be a critical figure of.

He was also facing the possibility of a lawsuit from Unsworth after branding him a paedophile in some of his unsavoury tweets.

Despite the apology, the billionaire seemed keen to highlight provocation from Unsworth who, in a televised interview, had said Musk should “shove it where it hurts” in relation to a mini-sub which had been built for the rescue mission. Unsworth had also suggested the business magnate’s presence at the cave was an unwelcome publicity stunt.

Taking to Twitter again, Musk said: “My words were spoken in anger after Mr Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader.

He added: “Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.”