Elon Musk sells Tesla shares worth around $4 bn, says no more TLSA sale planned

Elon Musk sells Tesla shares worth around $4 bn, says no more TLSA sale planned

Tesla shares closed Thursday down slightly at $877.51. They are down 17% so far this year

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Friday, April 29, 2022, 10:51 AM IST
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In a tweet, Musk said “No further TSLA sales planned after today.” He was responding to a Twitter user on the Tesla stock sale. / Representative image |

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold Tesla shares worth $4 billion, according to US Securities and Exchange filings.

Musk carried out the sale through his trust and sold the shares on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the filings show.

The sale was done most likely to help fund his purchase of 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.

In a tweet, Musk said “No further TSLA sales planned after today.” He was responding to a Twitter user on the Tesla stock sale.

The shares were sold over the past few days, at prices ranging from $872.02 to $999.13.

The sale came after Musk on Monday signed a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion cash in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person. Musk's net worth is $268 billion, according to Forbes.

As part of the deal, Musk said he would provide a $21 billion equity commitment.

Most of the sales took place on Tuesday, when Tesla shares closed down 12 percent, a huge single-day drop.

Tesla investors fear Musk will be distracted by Twitter

Analysts said Tesla investors fear 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.

It appeared that Musk would borrow up to $25.5 billion from a slew of banks to pay for the takeover of Twitter, but the stock sale potentially could fund some of that.

The deal to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share was announced earlier this week and is expected to close sometime this year. But before the deal is completed, shareholders will have to weigh in. So will regulators in the US and in countries where Twitter does business.

So far though, few hurdles are expected, despite objections from some of Twitter's employees and from users who worry about Musk's stance on free speech and what it might mean for harassment and hate speech on the platform.

Tesla shares closed Thursday down slightly at $877.51. They are down 17 percent so far this year.

(With PTI inputs)

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