A series of Form-4s submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Elon Musk has sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock over the last few trading days. Musk has now sold a total of almost $20 billion worth of TSLA since he launched his takeover attempt of social media platform Twitter.
Musk’s Form-4 filings did not disclose the reasons behind the CEO’s decision to sell TSLA stock. However, both Tesla bulls and bears have strongly speculated that Musk would likely have to sell a large block of his personal Tesla shares to finance his Twitter acquisition. These impending concerns have hung over the electric vehicle maker’s share price for several months now.
So far, Tesla shares have dropped about 52% this year and are down about 42% since Musk announced his offer to purchase Twitter for $44 billion at $54.20 per share.
After an initial sale of about $8.5 billion worth of Tesla shares in April, Musk commented on Twitter that “No further TSLA sales (are) planned after today.” Musk, however, proceeded to sell about $6.9 billion more TSLA shares in August, according to a Financial Times report. Coincidentally, Musk’s selloff of Tesla shares in August came at a time when he was attempting to back out of his buyout, citing concerns about the social media platform’s bots and fake accounts.
At the time, Musk was asked once more if the $6.9 billion sales were the last that he was planning. “Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Yes. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” Musk responded.
Tesla bulls have shared their thoughts on Musk’s recent TSLA selloff. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives noted that any worries about Musk selling more Tesla should be done for now. The analyst, however, acknowledged that the current situation is “frustrating” for everyone. “Musk sold $4 billion of stock according Form 4’s filed. The Twitter deal remains an albatross in many ways but it looks like the Musk stock sale worries now should be done. Tesla stock down big since Twitter deal. Frustrating situation for all,” Ives said.
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