Billionaire Elon Musk has just completed the sale of another 22 million shares, which brought in a total of $3.58 billion (£2.9 billion), BBC reports.
No news yet for the recent share sales, however, some regulatory documents with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed the shares were sold and all transactions completed yesterday.
In April, Musk sold $8.4 billion worth of Tesla shares, and in August, he sold another $6.9 billion. With this latest sale, Mr. Musk has made about $40 billion from the sale of Tesla shares over the previous year.
To add intrigue, Musk assured his Twitter followers that he had no plans to sell any further shares following the April transaction.
After agreeing to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, Musk resumed selling Tesla shares. Musk finished the deal at the end of October and made himself CEO of the social media company right away.
Just last week, Mr. Musk fell from the ranks of the world’s wealthiest people. Following his takeover of Twitter, he reportedly told staff members that he had sold Tesla shares in order to “save” the company.
Some of the lending institutions that provided the funds for Twitter’s purchase are bracing themselves to record losses on the $1 billion in debt service that will be required each year. Musk might avoid a public spectacle by personally paying off Twitter’s debt.
While Musk was ‘forced’ to buy Twitter, Tesla shares have been steadily falling this year. The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesla’s market value dropped to $495 billion after the company’s shares finished down 2.6% on Wednesday at $156.80.
By Wednesday’s close, Tesla’s stock had dropped by 55% so far this year. Wall Street claims that this is the lowest the company’s market value has been since November 2020, when it was worth less than $500 billion.
A Washington Post claims Musk’s bid to buy Twitter has been controversial with Tesla investors since he first announced it this spring. “The billionaire,” it says, “holds much of his wealth in Tesla shares, and it was immediately apparent he would have to leverage his position there to afford his purchase of the social media company.”
Tesla’s stock fell, but many investors remained cautiously optimistic, or at least neutral, about Musk’s deal.
