Elon Musk sells Tesla shares worth $6.9bn; stocks cash for 'highly unlikely' Twitter deal

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is “done selling” shares of his electric car maker company after a court filing revealed that on Friday, the executive sold 7.9 million shares, worth about $6.9 billion. It was the first time that Musk sold Tesla shares since April when he sold around 9.6 million shares worth $8.5 billion. After the media reports stated Tesla selling shares this month, Musk replied to a Twitter user, who questioned, “Are you done selling [shares]?”.

Replying “Yes”, Elon Musk also elaborated that it was to prevent “emergency sale” of Tesla stocks if he goes forward with the $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal. However, Tesla's CEO also mentioned in the response that the deal with Twitter is “highly unlikely” especially as both sides have taken the matter to court and the hearing would start in October. Musk pulled out of the agreement with Twitter over the social media company’s lack of transparency in data about spam accounts on the platform.

Moreover, when an internet user asked if Musk would buy the Tesla shares again if the deal with Tesla does not close, Musk replied, “Yes”. Musk still appears to be stocking up cash in case he is forced to go through with his $44 billion Twitter acquisition even after he refused to go ahead with it. 

Meanwhile, as the Twitter-Musk saga continues, it should be noted that over the last ten months, Tesla's CEO has sold around $32 billion worth of company stocks.

Musk demands method of sampling 100 accounts for deal to go ahead

Over the weekend, Musk again tweeted about the deals with the social media platform and demanded the website’s method of sampling 100 accounts. Tesla CEO wrote, “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 openly challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for a "public debate" on bot accounts percentage on the social media platform adding, "Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users!"

Image: AP