Since winning his $44 billion deal to purchase control of Twitter, Elon Musk has sold about $4 billion (£3.2 billion) in Tesla stock. According to a regulatory filing, Musk, the electric carmaker’s CEO, sold the stock on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sales came after Tesla’s stock price plunged amid investor fears that Musk might sell stock in the firm to help fund the all-cash acquisition of Twitter.
Musk said on Twitter late Thursday, after the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission was made public, that he had no plans to sell Tesla stock “beyond today.”
Musk is required to pay nearly $21 billion in cash under the terms of the Twitter acquisition, which is not likely to be finalized for another six months. Tesla’s shares fell more than 12% on Tuesday after Musk’s takeover of Twitter was announced, the worst one-day decline since September 2020, as investors were concerned Musk would not have enough time to push the electric car industry as competition heats up. Since Musk first announced that he had purchased a stake in Twitter earlier this month, the carmaker’s stock has dropped by a fifth. Musk is part-funding the buyout of Twitter with his significant Tesla holdings, which have made him the world’s richest person.
Musk’s nearly 4.5 million shares were sold at prices ranging from $872 to $999 per share, his first since a spree that garnered more than $16 billion late last year after he asked his more than 80 million Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla holdings.
A person familiar with the subject told Reuters that Musk has been looking for partners to lower his equity stake to the deal, but that such a partner is unlikely to emerge.
