Why Has Elon Musk Sold Tesla Shares Worth Billions?
Heard about Elon Musk selling his Tesla shares? Here, we explain why.
Elon Musk Sells Tesla Shares Worth $6.9 Billion
From 5th August to 9th August 2022, Elon Musk sold nearly 7.9 million Tesla shares for almost $6.9 billion, according toSEC filings.
The latest series of sales takes his selling spree since November 2021 to around $32 billion. Given that he referred to the Tesla share price decline as a buying opportunity, the recent sale came as a surprise to many.
Why Is Elon Musk Selling His Tesla Shares?
Musk selling his Tesla shares has more to do with Twitter than Tesla itself. As Elon Musk replied to a tweet, he is offloading Tesla shares to raise cash in case he loses the lawsuit filed by Twitter.
After agreeing to acquire Twitter for $44 billion in July 2022,Musk announced that he no longer wants to buy Twitterdue to misleading spam account data.
With the trial between Elon Musk and Twitter scheduled to begin on 31 May 2025, Musk has prepared for the worst-case scenario. If things go south, he might be forced to complete the Twitter takeover.
There is also a possibility that the court will impose a fine. His agreement with Twitter, too, contains a clause of a $1 billion termination fee.
Musk is arranging the financing in advance, so he can avoid losing money by dumping Tesla shares at the last moment. Some analysts also suggest that the recent recovery in Tesla’s share price might have prompted Musk to unload some stock and raise cash in advance.
It’s pertinent to mention that Musk had already sold Tesla shares worth $8.4 billion to finance the possible Twitter acquisition in April 2022. Although he says otherwise, experts believe he might have to sell more stock to close the deal.
What Does This Mean for Twitter, Tesla, and Musk?
For Twitter, the large, sudden offloading of Tesla stock has increased the odds of Musk completing the acquisition. As we discussed earlier,Musk taking over Twitter might turn out to be a good thingfor the social media company. After the news broke, there was a slight rise in Twitter’s share price.
As Musk has refloated the idea of launching his social media platform by the name of X.com, Twitter might have a new rival if the deal does not work out.
Although Elon Musk has sold the Tesla shares for now as a precautionary measure, he plans to buy them back if the Twitter deal doesn’t close. So for the automotive company, the sale of shares might not be of much concern.
As for Musk’s personal wealth, it has dipped slightly to around $255 billion, but the billionaire remains the richest person on earth. His shareholding in Tesla is reported to be around 15 percent, as he is the largest shareholder.
Will Musk Take Over Twitter?
Although Elon Musk has been quite interested in acquiring Twitter, he had suddenly backed out of the deal in July, citing misleading bot data.
But now, with the trial date nearing, the fact that Elon Musk is piling up cash suggests he might at last buy Twitter. Or is it another of his tactics? Only time will tell.
With Elon Musk owning Twitter, he now has free reign to tell it how it should run. Here are the things we’re expecting him to do.
you’re able to block out the constant surveillance and restore your privacy with a few quick changes.
It’s not super flashy, but it can help to keep your computer up and running.
Your iPhone forgets what you copy, but this shortcut makes it remember everything.
Taming data is easier than it looks.
The best features aren’t the ones being advertised.
