November 8 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk has sold $3.95 billion worth of shares in the electric car maker, according to US regulatory filings, days after he completed a $44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc.
The filings published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Musk, whose net worth fell to less than $ 200 billion after investors dumped Tesla shares, emptied 19.5 million shares between Friday and Tuesday.
The latest share sale leaves Musk with a roughly 14% stake in Tesla, according to Reuters calculations.
The purpose of the sale was not disclosed.
The latest sell-off comes as analysts widely expected Musk to sell additional Tesla shares to fund the Twitter deal.
Musk, the world’s richest man, confirmed in April that he had finished selling Tesla shares. However, he went on to sell another $6.9 billion worth of shares in Tesla in August, and said the sale was made to pay for the social media platform.
Musk, the world’s richest man, earned about $20 billion in cash after selling part of his stake in Tesla, including sales made last year. This would have required him to raise between $2 billion and an additional $3 billion to fund the acquisition, according to Reuters calculations.
Tesla has lost nearly half of its market value and Musk’s net worth has fallen by $70 billion since he made an offer to buy Twitter in April.
Twitter and Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Musk took over Twitter last month and has been involved in drastic measures including firing half of the staff and a plan to charge for blue check marks.
The billionaire pledged $46.5 billion in equity and debt financing for the acquisition, which covered $44 billion and closing costs. Banks, including Morgan Stanley (MS.N) The Bank of America Corp (BAC.N)committed to providing $13 billion in debt financing.
Musk’s $33.5 billion commitment included his 9.6% stake in Twitter, which is worth $4 billion, and $7.1 billion he took from stock investors, including Oracle Corp. (ORCL.N) Co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.
Musk tried to walk away from the deal in May, claiming that Twitter had reduced the number of bot accounts and spam on the platform. This led to a series of lawsuits between the two parties.
Additional reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Hyunju Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Sherry Jacob Phillips
Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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