Elon Musk sells $4B in Tesla stock, updates investors on future sales plan

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla stock worth about $4 billion on Thursday, with the sale believed to be in furtherance of his buyout of Twitter.

The world’s richest man reported the sale in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

The shares were sold over the past several days, at prices ranging from $872.02 to $999.13, with the filing showing that the bulk of the sales was made on Tuesday. Tesla shares fell 12 percent on Tuesday but edged back up on Wednesday by less than one percentage point.

The announcement of the sale resulted in Tesla stock closing Thursday down slightly at $877.51, and down 17 percent for the year, according to AP.

In responding to a tweet from an account that linked to the SEC filing, Musk wrote, “No further TSLA sales planned after today.”

Musk’s buyout offer for Twitter, which he plans to take private, is around $44 billion, or $54.20 per share, The billionaire secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt, including $12.5 billion in loans against his Tesla stock, according to CNBC.

As for the deal for Twitter, while the board accepted Musk’s offer, it still requires shareholder and regulatory approval.

“Musk would have to pay Twitter a termination fee of $1 billion if he fails to secure enough funding to complete his deal to buy the social media business, according to a regulatory filing out Tuesday,” CNBC reported. “On the other hand, Twitter would owe Musk a $1 billion break-up fee if it accepts a competing offer, or if shareholders reject the deal, according to the same filing.”

Musk raised plenty of eyebrows on Thursday over another tweet, suggesting his political views.

The tweet shows him decidedly center-left in 2008 but now has him center-right, though the graphic suggests that both parties have moved further away from the center. In a follow-up tweet responding to Tim Urban, Musk said, “I strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists.”

Tom Tillison

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