Musk sold about $9.6 million shares this week
Ahead of the announcement of buying the world's most powerful social media platform Twitter, Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk sold $8.5 billion (approx. Rs. 65,044 crore) worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, US securities filings showed, in sales likely aimed at helping finance his planned purchase of Twitter.
Recently, on Thursday, 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 Friday, equating to 5.6 percent of his stake in the company.
Despite that, it was not clear whether all of Musk's recent Tesla share sales were reported. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The sale came after Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion (approx. Rs. 3, 36,690 crore) 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 $268 billion (approx. Rs. 20, 50,725 crore), according to Forbes.
As part of the deal, Musk said he would provide $21 billion (approx. Rs. 1, 60,690 crore) equity commitment.
However, it was not immediately clear how the billionaire would raise the remaining $12.5 billion (approx. Rs. 95,600 crore) of equity financing. Musk holds a 43.61 percent stake in unlisted rocket company SpaceX, which is reportedly valued at $100 billion (approx.Rs. 7, 65,230 crore).
Tesla shares rose about 5 percent in morning trading on Friday. They have tumbled about 20 percent since Musk's disclosure of a more than 9 percent stake in Twitter on April 4.
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