KEY POINTS
  • Tesla shares surged more than 10 percent after being halted for more than an hour.
  • Musk issued a string of tweets about possibly taking the company private at $420 a share.
  • Later, the company issued a blog post that said a final decision had not yet been made.
  • Tesla's market value at $420 a share would be about $71 billion.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shocked investors Tuesday by floating the idea of taking the company private, in what would be the largest deal of its kind.

The step would remove the public spotlight from the company, which has been burning through cash and struggling to meet production targets. It also suggests Musk feels constrained running Tesla as a public company and would prefer to manage it more on his own terms.