Warren Buffett missed a trick by not investing in Tesla at a rock-bottom valuation, Elon Musk says

• Warren Buffett could have invested in Tesla when it was worth almost nothing, Elon Musk said.

• Buffett passed on Tesla at a $200 million valuation in 2008, Musk previously said.

• Tesla is now worth about $700 billion, but that's down from a peak valuation of $1.2 trillion.

Warren Buffett missed a trick when he passed on Tesla early on, Elon Musk said.

"He could've invested in Tesla when we were worth basically nothing and didn't," the SpaceX and Tesla CEO posted on X, the website formerly called Twitter, on Thursday.

He was responding to a post highlighting Buffett's vast wealth and the enormous value of his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.

The electric-vehicle pioneer noted in March that Buffett could have invested in Tesla when it was worth just $200 million. The automaker's market capitalization was $687 billion at Thursday's close – or more than 3,000 times higher.

Musk also highlighted in February that he had lunch with Buffett's business partner and Berkshire's vice-chairman, Charlie Munger, in late 2008. The Tesla chief said Munger could have purchased a stake in Tesla at the same $200 million valuation, but declined to do so.

Tesla secured a $2 billion market cap when it went public in 2010. Its value surged as high as $1.2 trillion in November 2021, but has tumbled by more than 40% since then.