International Business: Musk sells Tesla shares worth $8.5bn before Twitter takeover – Gulf Digital News

International Business: Musk sells Tesla shares worth $8.5bn before Twitter takeover – Gulf Digital News

NEW YORK: Tesla chief executive Elon Musk sold $8.5 billion worth of shares in the electric carmaker, US securities filings showed, in sales likely aimed at helping finance his planned purchase of Twitter.

Musk said in a tweet that there are “no further TSLA sales planned after today”. He sold about 9.6 million shares this week, according to the filings on Thursday and yesterday, equating to 5.6 per cent of his stake in the company.

It was not clear whether all of Musk’s recent Tesla share sales were reported.

The sale came after Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44bn in cash in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world’s richest person. Musk’s net worth is $268bn, according to Forbes.

As part of the deal, Musk said he would provide a $21bn equity commitment.

It was not immediately clear how the billionaire would raise the remaining $12.5bn of equity financing. Musk holds a 43.61pc stake in unlisted rocket company SpaceX, which is reportedly valued at $100bn.

Tesla shares rose about 5pc in morning trading yesterday.

They have tumbled about 20pc since Musk’s disclosure of a more than 9pc