Collecting money to buy Twitter, Elon Musk sold more than 4 million shares in Tesla

According to filings published late on April 28, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO sold 4.4 million shares of the electric vehicle company on April 26 and 27. Wall Street analysts and Tesla investors once suspected that Musk might have to sell some of the shares to cover the $21 billion in equity he secured with personal assets.

Specifically, according to the financial package to acquire the social networking platform “Blue Bird”, Musk used Twitter as a security asset worth $13 billion, along with about another $12.5 billion tied to a part of Tesla shares worth 170 billion USD that this billionaire is holding.

Shortly after the news became public, Musk took to Twitter to reassure investors that he had “no plans to sell more shares.”

Musk and Twitter reached an agreement earlier this week to make the social media platform officially the richest man in the world. However, Musk’s move also poses some “risks” to Tesla, the company he has served as CEO since 2008, and is the largest shareholder. The confirmation of the sale of shares in the electric vehicle company may surprise shareholders and retail investors.

Tesla shares fell 12% on April 26, the largest drop since September 2020, and are at $877.51 per share after yesterday’s trading session (April 28).

“It’s been a brutal cycle for Tesla investors as well as darkening the company with Musk selling off more shares,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush. “The Twitter deal is becoming a problem for Tesla stock and it just adds fuel to the fire.”

Twitter shares closed on April 28 at $49.11, below the $54.20 price Musk offered in the repurchase agreement.

Vinh Ngo (According to Bloomberg)