Tesla CEO Elon Musk is in the process of selling another stake in his electric car company, according to regulatory filings. As of Friday, the executive has sold 7.9 million of his shares for a total of about $6.9 billion. It's the first time Musk has sold Tesla shares since April, when he sold 9.6 million shares worth about $8.5 billion.
Musk appears to be selling shares to save cash in case he is forced to complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. The manager tweeted Tuesday night that the sale has ended for now.
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“If (hopefully unlikely) Twitter pushes through with this deal and some equity partners fail to come to an agreement, it is important to avoid selling Tesla shares,” Musk tweeted.
Last month, Musk told Twitter he’s killing the deal because he believed the social media company to be misleading in its bot calculations. However, over the weekend, the executive waffled a bit, tweeting: “If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms. However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not.”
Musk also tweeted Tuesday evening that if the Twitter deal doesn’t close, he’ll buy back his shares. Perhaps he’ll wait until Tesla issues its three-to-one stock split, which Tesla shareholders approved last week, so he can buy them back on the cheap.
Over the last ten months, Musk has sold around $32 billion worth of stock in Tesla.
Tesla shares were down 2.44% today but are trading relatively flat in after-hours, suggesting the stock sales are yet to have an effect on Tesla’s share price. Tesla’s stock took a hit late last year when Musk sold off more than $16 billion worth of sales after polling his Twitter fans on whether he should trim his stake, a move that got him in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
