- Musk sold millions of dollars worth of Tesla stock.
- The founder’s sale of Tesla shares has affected the value of the shares in the past.
- So far this year, Tesla shares are down more than 50 percent.
Elon Musk sold more than 20 million Tesla shares between Monday, December 12, and Wednesday, December 14.
This is equivalent to around 3.5 billion dollars, according to the calculation of the Wall Street Journalbased on communications from the regulatory body of the New York Stock Exchange.
This week’s sales mean the Tesla CEO has sold more than $39 billion worth of Tesla shares since they peaked in November last year.
In parallel, Tesla, which continues to be the automaker with the highest market value in the world, it has lost more than $700 billion in market capitalization.
It is not entirely clear the reasons that led Musk to divest himself of Tesla’s shares.
This Tuesday the 13th, however, Musk wrote on Twitter: “At the risk of being obvious, watch out for debt in turbulent macroeconomic conditions, especially when the Fed keeps raising rates.”
One of the reasons that analysts understand as valid is the purchase of Twitter.
The billionaire bought the social network in a deal valued at $44 billion 45 days ago, and it hasn’t been an easy start.
In November, Musk said Twitter had suffered “a massive drop in revenue” and was losing $4 million a day. He even went so far as to talk about bankruptcy.
As part of the purchase, Twitter assumed a debt of 13 billion dollars. That could severely affect the finances of the social media company, with annual interest payment commitments of more than $1 billion, far more than the $50 million a year in debt it was due to pay off in 2021.
Musk’s spotlight on Twitter has angered some Tesla investors as the company posts its worst annual performance since it was founded more than a decade ago.
Musk acknowledged in November that he has been spending most of his time at Twitter, a company he bought for $44 billion. “I’m going to try to reduce the time Twitter takes me by finding someone else to run it in the future,” he said.
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