Tesla (TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk told employees that they should not be "bothered by stock market craziness" after the company's shares fell nearly 70% this year on jitters over softening demand for electric vehicles and Musk's distraction with running Twitter. In an email sent to staff on Wednesday, Musk said he believes that long term, Tesla will be the most valuable company on earth. 

Tesla shares have declined about 68% for the year, though they rose 3.3% on Wednesday to $112.71. The stock is down 42% in December, and is poised to close out its worst month, quarter and year on record. Musk has blamed Tesla’s declining share price in part on rising interest rates. But critics point to his Twitter takeover as a bigger culprit for the slide, which has wiped out about $675 billion in market cap this year as of Wednesday’s close.

He also urged employees to ramp up deliveries at the end of this quarter, after the automaker offered discounts on its vehicles in the United States and China. "Please go all out for the next few days and volunteer to help deliver if at all possible. It will make a real difference!" he said in the email. Analysts expect Tesla to deliver 442,452 vehicles in the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv data.