MOSCOW - Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, sold US$6.88 billion worth of shares of his automotive company since last Friday, Sputnik reported, quoting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.
According to the SEC filings, Musk sold the package of 7.9 million Tesla shares in three days, beginning on Friday, when Tesla share prices slumped by 6.6 per cent. On Monday, Musk sold another portion, as the prices showed modest growth of 0.8 per cent. The final part came on Tuesday, when the stocks declined once again, by 2.4 per cent.
When asked by his Twitter followers on Wednesday if he would stop selling Tesla stock, Musk responded that "it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock" in the event that he is forced to close the Twitter deal and his equity partners abandon the transaction.
In April, Musk sold roughly US$4 billion worth of Tesla shares after hammering out a deal to purchase social media platform Twitter. Following the move, the entrepreneur said that he would not sell Tesla shares in the future. Musk required additional spare funds to finance part of the deal.
In April, Musk initially agreed to purchase Twitter for approximately US$44 billion before raising concerns about the number of fake accounts. He tried to back out of the deal, arguing that Twitter had more than 5 per cent of fake accounts that the company had reported as a basis for the deal.
Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk over his reneging on the purchase deal, while he launched a countersuit saying that the company committed fraud and breach of contract.
Tesla Inc was founded in 2003 as a developer and manufacturer of electric vehicles and related technologies. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. In addition to electric vehicles, the company uses its technology to produce batteries and electric motors and sell them to other car companies such as Toyota and Daimler. - BERNAMA
According to the SEC filings, Musk sold the package of 7.9 million Tesla shares in three days, beginning on Friday, when Tesla share prices slumped by 6.6 per cent. On Monday, Musk sold another portion, as the prices showed modest growth of 0.8 per cent. The final part came on Tuesday, when the stocks declined once again, by 2.4 per cent.
When asked by his Twitter followers on Wednesday if he would stop selling Tesla stock, Musk responded that "it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock" in the event that he is forced to close the Twitter deal and his equity partners abandon the transaction.
In April, Musk sold roughly US$4 billion worth of Tesla shares after hammering out a deal to purchase social media platform Twitter. Following the move, the entrepreneur said that he would not sell Tesla shares in the future. Musk required additional spare funds to finance part of the deal.
In April, Musk initially agreed to purchase Twitter for approximately US$44 billion before raising concerns about the number of fake accounts. He tried to back out of the deal, arguing that Twitter had more than 5 per cent of fake accounts that the company had reported as a basis for the deal.
Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk over his reneging on the purchase deal, while he launched a countersuit saying that the company committed fraud and breach of contract.
Tesla Inc was founded in 2003 as a developer and manufacturer of electric vehicles and related technologies. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. In addition to electric vehicles, the company uses its technology to produce batteries and electric motors and sell them to other car companies such as Toyota and Daimler. - BERNAMA