Elon Musk Sells Almost $4bn-worth of Tesla Shares After Buying Twitter

 

Tesla shares worth a staggering $4bn-worth (£3.2bn) has been sold by world's richest man, Elon Musk.

 

He sold the shares after securing his $44bn deal to take control of Twitter.

 

Musk, the electric carmaker’s chief executive, sold the stock on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a regulatory filing.

 

The sales came as Tesla’s share price plummeted amid investor concern that the multibillionaire would offload stock in the company to help fund the all-cash deal for Twitter.

 

Musk posted on Twitter late on Thursday after the filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission became public to say he planned no further sales of Tesla shares “after today”.

 

Tesla’s stock dropped more than 12% on Tuesday after the announcement of Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the biggest one-day drop since September 2020, as investors worried Musk would not have as much time to drive the electric car business as competition in the sector hots up. 

 

On Tuesday alone, more than $125bn was wiped off the car maker's stock market value after the social media firm's board accepted his takeover offer.

 

Mr. Musk said he would commit $21bn of his assets to help finance the $44bn deal.

 

Investors were concerned that he may have to sell Tesla shares to help fund the takeover.

 

Mr Musk is the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth of almost $250bn, mostly due to his Tesla stake.

 

He also has a more than 40% stake in the rocket company SpaceX, which is estimated to be worth $100bn.