Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses a legal battle with the social media platform.
Replying to a user on Twitter, Elon Musk said in a tweet, “In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.”
Yes.
In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2022
Early in July, Musk stepped out of the deal of a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, claiming that he was deceived about the number of spam accounts on the social media platform.
Read: Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion
Twitter then sued Musk to compel him to finish the transaction.
On October 17, the two parties will go on trial.
In other comments on Twitter on Tuesday, Musk said “yes”, when asked if he was done selling Tesla stock and also said he would buy Tesla stock again if the Twitter deal did not close.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, sold $8.5 billion worth of Tesla shares in April and said at the time that there were no further sales planned.
But since then, legal experts suggested that if Musk was forced to complete the acquisition or settle the dispute with a stiff penalty, he was likely to sell more Tesla shares.
Reuters reported that Musk sold about 7.92 million shares between Aug.5 and Aug.9, according to multiple filings. He now owns 155.04 million Tesla shares or just under 15% of the automaker according to Reuters calculations.
The latest sales bring total Tesla stock sales by Musk to about $32 billion in less than one year.
Tesla shares have risen nearly 15% since the automaker reported better-than-expected earnings on July 20, also helped by the Biden administration’s climate bill that, if passed, would lift the cap on tax credits for electric vehicles.
Musk also teased on Tuesday that he could start his own social media platform. When asked by a Twitter user if he had thought about creating his own platform if the deal didn’t close, he replied: “X.com”. – Agencies
