The BBC reports that the sale has led to speculation that it will help to finance his planned $44bn buyout of the social media platform.
Katja Hamilton 26 Apr 2022
Filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission show that Musk sold a total of 4.4 million Tesla shares on Tuesday and Wednesday. Shares in Tesla fell sharply earlier this week, reports the BBC over worries that Musk would sell part of his stake in the carmaker to fund the deal.
The electric carmaker's share price was 2.6% lower in the after-hours trade. The 12% fall on Tuesday, when Musk began offloading his shares, represented the biggest fall in Tesla shares since September 2020 according to The Daily Mail.
“Musk had staked $12.5bn of his ownership in Tesla as collateral to purchase Twitter, with his commitment to take over the social media platform causing an earlier drop in Tesla stock as investors feared he will be too preoccupied with his latest acquisition,” says the Daily Mail report.
Bloomberg quotes analyst Dan Ives, of Wedbush Securities, saying that Musk's focus on Twitter and the recent sell of Tesla stocks was foreboding for the future of the electric vehicle company.
'It's a brutal cycle for Tesla investors to navigate and casts a shadow on the name with Musk selling more stock. The Twitter deal is becoming an albatross for Tesla's stock and this pours gasoline on the raging fire,” says Ives.
No further TSLA sales planned after today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
Following the statement Bloomberg says: “It’s unclear whether he may have done more than $4bn worth of selling. The tweet could imply there were more disposals on Thursday that would have to be reported by Friday.”
