Elon Musk sells $6.9 billion in Tesla stocks to pre-empt Twitter buyout

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla sold $6.9 billion of shares in Tesla, according to Form 4 filings on Tuesday, making it the first time he had sold stock in his company since April.

Musk’s sale of 7.92 million Tesla shares raised eyebrows on social media, with some suggesting that he was cashing in ahead of the predicted economic crash.

BREAKING: Elon Musk has filed a total of six Form 4s with the SEC tonight showing that he sold 7,924,107 $TSLA shares worth about $6.9 Billion.

Weighted average price was $869.09.

The sales took place on August 5th, 8th and 9th. pic.twitter.com/SueP2AYGNR

— Sawyer Merritt 📈🚀 (@SawyerMerritt) August 10, 2022

In April, Musk sold Tesla shares, allegedly to help him fund his acquisition of Twitter, which he dropped after the company refused to disclose details on exactly how it arrived at its estimate of total number of active Twitter users who are not fake.

With Twitter having launched a lawsuit against Musk to force the buyout, Musk said on Twitter late Tuesday that his sale of Tesla stock was to prepare for the forced buyout.

“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,” explained Musk.

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.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2022

Responding to comments, Musk said that if the Twitter deal doesn’t go through, he intends to buy Tesla stock again. He also added that he is considering creating his own social media platform if the deal with Twitter doesn’t pass and linked to X.com. The site remains empty for now.

As detailed by Zero Hedge, Musk sold the shares on August 5, when Tesla stocks fell by 8%.

“The sale took place shortly after Musk’s latest taunt to shorts, who it appears were right – judging by Musk’s own sale – but were squeezed nonetheless,” wrote Zero Hedge.

Heatwave in Shortville 🥵

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2022