San Francisco, Mar 28 (IANS): Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now deleted a tweet in which he claimed that electric car maker Tesla could be the biggest company "in a few months".

In reply to a follower's tweet, Musk last week said, "I think there is a >0% (greater than zero per cent) chance Tesla could be the biggest company," added, "probably within a few months" in replies to followers.

While the first part of the tweet which indicated that Tesla could become bigger than Apple is still intact, the second part of the tweet in which talked about the timeline is now gone.

This is not the first time, however, that the tech billionaire has posted tweet which has caused controversy.

Several targets that he had earlier posted in relation to the companies that he run were not achieved within the time frame that he mentioned.

Musk, who has 49.7 million followers on Twitter, uses the microblogging platform to connect with his followers and also to make important announcements related to Tesla, SpaceX and his other ventures.

However, not all his tweets have gone down well with the regulators and investors.

The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently has told Tesla to tell Musk to delete an anti-union tweet he posted in 2018.

Musk had tweeted: "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare".

Earlier, a Tesla investor sued Musk and the board of the company for violating a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that barred Musk from tweeting on the sensitive financial information related to the electric car maker.

The lawsuit claims that Musk is exposing Tesla to potential penalties from regulators and could drive down its stock.