Elon Musk has said he will no longer be taking Tesla private after current investors have persuaded him to keep the electric car company as a listed business.

The founder of the electric car company wrote in a post published on the company’s site that the plan was cancelled and “given the feedback, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company”.

“Earlier this month, I announced that I was considering taking Tesla private. As part of the process, it was important to understand whether our current investors believed this would be a good strategic move and whether they would want to participate in a private Tesla,” he wrote.

“Our investors are extremely important to me. Almost all have stuck with us from the time we went public in 2010 when we had no cars in production and only a vision of what we wanted to be. They believe strongly in our mission to advance sustainable energy and care deeply about our success,” added Musk.

It was only earlier this month that Musk announced on Twitter that he had acquired the funding to take Tesla private at a value of $72 billion (£57 billion).

Following the shock announcement, it was soon revealed Musk had not closed a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the founder had investors start a series of lawsuits against him.

Shares in the group increased following Musk’s tweet about taking Tesla private, however, have continued to fall since then.

Shares in the group continued to fall following Musk’s interview to the New York Times, where he said he was working 120 hour weeks and barely leaving the office whilst having to take sedatives.

Shares in the group (NASDAQ: TSLA) are currently trading up 0.85 percent at 322,82 (0959GMT).