Elon Musk has sold Tesla shares worth nearly US$4 billion in the two days after agreeing to buy Twitter for US$44 billion, according to the electric vehicle firm’s regulatory filings.
Elon Musk. Illustration by Tech in Asia’s Centaine Lim.
The Tesla CEO sold a total of more than 4.4 million shares on Tuesday and Wednesday at prices in the range of US$870 to US$1,000 per share, the filings show.
In a tweet, Musk said that there are “no further TSLA sales planned after today.”
No further TSLA sales planned after today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
Before the share sale, Musk owned a nearly 17% stake in Tesla, or more than 172 million shares, according to FactSet.
On April 25, Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter, despite the social media platform adopting a “poison pill” defense to prevent him from increasing his stake in the company to over 15%. He will make Twitter a privately held company when the transaction is completed later this year, pending regulator approval.
In a bid to finance the deal, the Tesla CEO secured US$25.5 billion in debt and margin loan financing, along with US$21 billion in equity commitments.
Editing by Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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