Tesla founder Elon Musk sold 4.4 million shares of the company for a total of $4 billion after he reached an agreement to buy Twitter with the service’s management. This information is contained in documents published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. They report that Mr. Musk sold these shares on Tuesday and Wednesday at prices ranging from $870 to $1,000 per share. This corresponds to approximately 2.6% of his entire stake in the company.
Musk remains Tesla’s largest shareholder, owning 172 million shares, which equates to a 17 percent stake in the company. He himself wrote on Twitter that he was not going to sell any more shares of Tesla in the near future.
Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion on Monday. This was preceded by several weeks of intense discussions about whether his attempts would be successful and whether Twitter management was seriously opposed to the acquisition. Previously, Mr. Musk has already made large-scale sales of Tesla shares. Last November, he conducted a poll on Twitter about whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares to pay his taxes. The majority of users were in favor of this, and as a result, Mr. Musk actually sold 10% of his shares.
About why the purchase of Twitter by a billionaire can play into the hands of the US Republicans, see the publication “Kommersant” “Democrats are not happy with Elon Musk.”