Elon Musk sells about $4B in Tesla stock after deciding to buy Twitter
The world’s richest man, who is the CEO of Tesla, tweeted that he doesn’t plan any further sales of the company’s shares.
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FollowTesla CEO Elon Musk, who made waves this week when the Twitter board agreed to accept his buyout deal, has sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla stock worth roughly $4 billion, most likely to help fund his purchase of Twitter. Musk on Thursday reported the sale in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were sold over the past few days, at prices ranging from $872.02 to $999.13.
The world’s richest man, who is the CEO of Tesla, tweeted that he doesn’t plan any further sales of the company’s shares.
Most of the sales took place on Tuesday, a day when Tesla shares closed down 12 per cent, a huge single-day drop. Tesla stock lost ground on Thursday amid investor concerns that Musk may have to sell Tesla shares to fund his $21 billion equity contribution to his $44 billion buyout of Twitter.
He is on the hook to come up with $21 billion in cash to finance the Twitter deal. That funding plan also includes borrowing $12.5 billion from loans backed by more than $62.5 billion worth of Tesla shares that he owns. Tesla and several banks have put in place rules that would require him to put up more collateral if the company’s share price falls.
Analysts said Tesla investors are fearful that Musk will be distracted by Twitter and less engaged in running the electric car company. Twitter agreed to be acquired by Musk on Monday for $44 billion, news agency AP reported.
Musk was for many years reluctant to part with Tesla stock. However, he sold more than $16 billion worth last year, much of it to pay taxes due on a large tranche of vested stock options he exercised before they would have expired this year.
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