Elon Musk sells nearly US$4b in Tesla stock: SEC filing

WASHINGTON: Tesla chief Elon Musk sold nearly US$4 billion (RM19 billion) worth of shares in the electric car company, SEC filings showed Tuesday, more than a week after he closed his US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Musk has been pushing for ways to pay for the massive deal, for which he took on billions of dollars in debt and earlier sold US$15.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla.

On Tuesday, documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that he had disposed of more than another 19 million shares, worth in excess of US$3.9 billion.

Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives in late October, after a drawnout back-and-forth between the world’s richest person and the influential social media company.

The billionaire initially tried to step back from the deal after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April.

He said in July that he was canceling the contract because he had been misled by Twitter over the number of fake “bot” accounts, allegations rejected by the company.

After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold the entrepreneur to the agreement. With a trial looming, he revived his takeover plan.

Musk has been searching for ways for the social media platform to make money after the buyout, including an idea to charge users US$8 a month for verified accounts.

Musk’s decision to pull Twitter off the stock market has allowed him to make major changes quickly, but it also took the company more heavily into debt, a risky choice for a money-losing business. – AFP