Tesla has seen more than a quarter of a trillion dollars wiped off its market value. Monday (March 8) saw its shares fall for a fifth straight day.

Over the past month the total losses for the stock now stand at 277 billion dollars. That’s taken a big bite out of founder Elon Musk’s assets.

By the end of last week, his wealth was down by 49 billion dollars – ending his brief reign as the world’s richest man.

The stock losses come as investors shift money to assets set to benefit from a global economic recovery.

Over the last three weeks the tech-heavy Nasdaq index is down over 10%.

One analyst said Tesla had looked clearly overvalued at its peaks of around 900 dollars, and predicted the decline had further to run.

The broader auto industry has also been hit by a shortage of computer chips.

Last month that forced Tesla to temporarily halt production at one plant in California.