Tesla shares have dropped sharply in recent days
Elon Musk has sold almost $4bn (£3.2bn) worth of Tesla shares, just days after he agreed to buy Twitter.
The move has prompted speculation that the sale was made to help finance his buyout of the social media platform, which is set to cost him $44bn.
On Monday, Twitter’s board agreed to accept a takeover offer from the billionaire.
But after the news, shares in Tesla fell sharply due to fears that he would sell more of his stake in order to fund the Twitter purchase.
Filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Mr Musk sold a total of 4.4 million Tesla shares on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But on Friday morning, Musk tweeted that there would be “no further” sales.
No further TSLA sales planned after today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
This is the first time the Tesla CEO has sold shares in the electric car company since November and December last year, when he asked his followers on Twitter whether he should sell 10 percent of his stake in the company.
He ended up offloading $16.4bn worth of stock.
The BBC reports that Tesla shares have fallen by around 20 percent since Musk bought a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter.
On Tuesday alone, the day most of the sales took place, the company’s share price dropped by 12 percent. This is the biggest one-day drop for the company since September 2020.
Investors are concerned that after his purchase of Twitter, Musk will become less focused on growing Tesla.
The 50-year-old remains the world’s richest person though, with an estimated worth of almost $250bn.
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- Twitter tells staff in emergency meeting that jobs are safe for six months until Elon Musk takes over
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