Elon Musk has sold shares worth nearly $4 billion (over Rs 32,000 crore) of his electric car company Tesla, AFP reported on Wednesday, citing regulatory filings.
Documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday showed that Musk, who completed the takeover of social media company Twitter on October 27, has sold 19 million (1.9 crore) shares in Tesla.
Musk, the world’s richest person, has been looking for avenues to shore up the $44 billion (over Rs 3.36 lakh crore) he needs to pay for the Twitter takeover. He has taken billions of dollars as debt and earlier sold Tesla shares worth $15.5 billion (over Rs 1.2 lakh crore), according to AFP.
Meanwhile, Musk’s net worth dropped below $200 billion on Tuesday as Tesla shares nosedived, Reuters reported. On Wednesday evening, Musk’s net worth stood at $197.4 billion, according to the Forbes real-time billionaires list. Nearly 15% of the Tesla and Twitter boss’ net worth comes from the shares he holds in the electric car firm.
Investors have been selling off Tesla shares since Musk first made the Twitter bid in April. Tesla shareholders are concerned that Musk is now more involved in the newly acquired social media company, according to Reuters.
“It seems like Elon Musk is spending 100% of the time on Twitter and you know, it might need more capital,” Jay Hatfield of financial services firm Infrastructure Capital Management, told the news agency.
Since April, Tesla has lost nearly half its market value.
Musk’s Twitter takeover
Musk had first proposed to buy Twitter on April 26.
However, he had announced on July 9 that he was terminating the deal to buy Twitter, claiming that the microblogging platform had breached the buyout agreement on multiple counts. The Tesla CEO said that he took the decision as Twitter did not provide enough information about the number of spam and fake accounts on its platform.
Twitter sued Musk on July 12 after the he backed out of the deal to buy the social media company.
Musk subsequently filed counterclaims to the suit, accusing Twitter of misleading its investors about the “key metrics” of the company, including the details about the fake accounts.
On October 5, the Tesla CEO proposed to buy Twitter for $44 billion – the original price he had offered to the social media company before the negotiations turned into litigation in July. Musk closed the Twitter deal on October 27 hours before a deadline set by a United States court in response to the Twitter demanding that Musk complete the merger agreement.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!