Most Read by Bloomberg Musk disposed of 19.5 million shares worth $3.95 billion in the latest trading, according to regulators late Tuesday in New York. The filings did not say the sales — his first since August — were planned. The filings come despite assurances from Tesla’s chief executive and largest shareholder that it was done unloading the stock. Musk maintained in April that no further sales were planned, and again in August, saying it was important to avoid an “emergency sale” in case he needed to close the Twitter acquisition and was struggling to bring in additional equity partners. Tesla shares gained less than 1% in premarket trading in New York on Wednesday. The stock is down 46% this year through Tuesday’s close and has lost $600 billion in market capitalization since peaking last November. Read more: Tesla’s value halved in year since Musk’s share sales The world’s richest man followed the takeover of the social media platform in October after spending months trying to get away from it. It’s not entirely clear how the $44 billion deal was ultimately financed, beyond the roughly $13 billion in debt commitments from Wall Street banks. Several high-profile individuals pledged to invest around $7 billion, although it is not known if all of them followed through on their pledges. And Musk never said publicly how he planned to raise his share of the cash needed to close the deal. But one thing is clear: Twitter is losing money and now faces annual interest payments of nearly $1.2 billion. Since Musk took over, several major companies have halted their ads on the platform, waiting to see how it evolves under the billionaire’s leadership. The story continues “It looks like Musk is setting himself up for things to stay bad at Twitter for the next year,” Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster said after the stock sales were made public. “Twitter is getting ready to become a money pit.” Musk, 51, and his financial right-hand man, Jared Birchall, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The billionaire’s drastic cost-cutting moves — including laying off half the staff and later asking some to return — and overhauling the platform’s operations have resulted in a tumultuous two weeks at the social media company, with some employees are not entirely clear. whether they still work there or not. The deal has also raised concerns among some Tesla shareholders that the CEO is spreading himself too thin and will have to get rid of even more of his stock. It still owns about 14 percent, according to Bloomberg data. Of the $36 billion worth of shares Musk has sold, about half of that has come since he came out with the plan to buy Twitter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The decline in Tesla stock has dragged Musk’s fortune to $179.5 billion from $340 billion at its peak, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. –With assistance from Dana Hull, Ed Ludlow, Tom Maloney, Esha Dey and Craig Trudell. Most Read by Bloomberg Businessweek ©2022 Bloomberg LP
