Tesla chief Elon Musk has sold nearly $4 billion worth of shares in the electric car company; SEC filings showed on Tuesday, more than a week after he completed his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion. billions of dollars.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents show Musk, who funded much of his Twitter buyout with Tesla stock, sold more than 19 million shares worth more than $3. $9 billion.
Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives in late October after a lengthy back-and-forth between the world’s richest person and the influential social media company.
He tried to walk out of the Twitter deal shortly after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April and said in July he was cancelling the contract because Twitter had misled him about the number of fake “bot” accounts – allegations denied by the company.
After Musk sought to end the sale, Twitter sued to force the contractor into the deal. But with a trial looming, he capitulated and relaunched his buyout plan.
Musk’s decision to take Twitter off the stock market allowed him to make major changes quickly, but it also put the company in more debt, a risky move for a money-losing company.
In early November, it announced an $8-a-month fee to verify user accounts, arguing the plan would fix the platform’s issues with bots and trolls while creating a new revenue stream for the company.