Elon Musk makes $5 million from Twitter joke

He made the announcement for a laugh but sales have been huge.

Elon Musk has sold over $5 million (£3.57m) worth of flamethrowers hours after announcing their existence on Twitter. Despite having created the $500 (£357) devices primarily for his own amusement, he has already flogged in excess of 10,000 of them, meaning he has already made millions. He posted a video of himself using the flamethrower on Instagram, adding the caption: "Don’t do this. "Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one. Unless you like fun." https://www.instagram.com/p/BeeYW0NA1HU/?utm_source=ig_embed He has described the device as “great for roasting nuts” and “guaranteed to liven up any party”. Speaking on Twitter, he said: “The rumor that I’m secretly creating a zombie apocalypse to generate demand for flamethrowers is completely false. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/957503604750823425 “You’d need millions of zombies for a so-called ‘apocalypse’ anyway. Where would I even get a factory big enough to make so many!?” If you'd like to get your hands on one, it is available from The Boring Company’s website and costs $500.