Musk sells $4B in Tesla shares after making deal for Twitter, filings show

Elon Musk sold approximately $4 billion worth of Tesla stock in the two days after he agreed to buy Twitter, according to regulatory filings revealed late Thursday.

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Musk reported the sale in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Associated Press reported. The shares were sold at prices ranging from $872.02 to $999.13, according to the AP.

Elon Musk sold roughly $4 billion worth of Tesla Inc. stock in the two days after agreeing to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion, according to regulatory filings made public late Thursday.

>> Twitter accepts Elon Musk’s offer to buy company

Before this week’s sales, Musk owned about 17% of the electric-vehicle maker, or more than 172 million shares, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing FactSet, a financial data company.

Elon Musk reported selling a total of more than 4.4 million Tesla shares on Tuesday and Wednesday at prices between about $870 and $1,000 a share, filings show. “No further TSLA sales planned after today," Musk tweeted Thursday. https://t.co/iDZbAuoidR
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 29, 2022

Musk responded to another user on Twitter after the sales were disclosed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“No further TSLA sales planned after today,” Musk tweeted.

No further TSLA sales planned after today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022

So he can’t use the shares we paid him in because someone else made bad investing choices?
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) April 29, 2022

The bulk of Musk’s sales was made on Tuesday, CNBC reported, citing the filing with the SEC. Tesla shares fell 12% that day but moved higher on Wednesday by less than a percentage point.

Musk has a net worth of $252 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That makes him the world’s richest person, according to The Wall Street Journal. Much of his money is tied up in his companies, which include Tesla and SpaceX, the newspaper reported.

Musk, who does not draw a cash salary from Tesla, has described himself as cash-poor, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The billionaire made a bid to buy Twitter for approximately $44 billion to take the social media company private, CNBC reported. Musk offered $54.20 per share.

To complete the deal, Musk secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt, including $12.5 billion in loans against Tesla stock.

The deal still requires shareholder and regulatory approval, according to CNBC.

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