esla shareholders are celebrating at year’s end as Elon Musk has driven the stock back to its peak, matching its level from exactly one year ago.

CNBC noted that Tesla investors had a rough start to 2025, but by year’s end the picture had dramatically changed, delivering a series of unexpected reasons to celebrate.

After Tesla shares plunged 36% in the first quarter—their worst quarterly performance since 2022—the stock staged a full recovery, closing at a record high of $489.88 (up 3.1% on Tuesday) and rising 21% year to date. The previous intraday high of $488.54 was reached almost exactly one year earlier, while the former record closing price stood at $479.86.

This week’s surge followed comments from CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who said Tesla is testing fully self-driving vehicles in Austin, Texas, with no one inside the car. The announcement came nearly six months after the launch of a pilot program using safety drivers.

As a result of the rally, Tesla’s market capitalization climbed to $1.63 trillion, making it the world’s seventh most valuable publicly traded company—behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, and just ahead of Broadcom. According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth is now around $684 billion, roughly $430 billion more than Google co-founder Larry Page, who ranks second.

Bullish investors see this as a sign that Tesla may finally deliver on its long-standing promise: turning existing electric vehicles into robotaxis through software updates alone.

Still, Tesla’s autonomous driving systems being tested in Austin have not been widely deployed, and many safety questions remain unanswered.

For Tesla, 2025 has truly been a roller-coaster year. The company began in what appeared to be a favorable position, buoyed by Musk’s role in the White House under President Donald Trump, where he heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with aggressively streamlining government operations and cutting federal regulations.