Billionaire Elon Musk, who recently lost the mantle of the world’s richest person, has sold Tesla shares worth $3.58 billion in the last three days.
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Though how the billionaire wants to utilise the proceeds remains unclear, a filing posted on Wednesday night with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the Tesla CEO — and new owner of Twitter — sold the shares from December 12 through December 14.
Musk sold nearly $23 billion worth of Tesla stock since April, with much of the money likely going to fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, according to reports. He sold another 9,34,091 shares of the electric vehicle maker worth $963.2 million earlier in December.
According to financial research firm VerityData’s data, cited by CNBC, Musk has sold 94,202,321 shares so far this year at an average price of $243.46 per share for pre-tax proceeds of approximately $22.93 billion. This, even as Musk told his millions of followers on social media that he had “no further TSLA sales planned” after April 28.
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Director of research for VerityData Ben Silverman wrote in an email to CNBC, “Musk’s prior sales going back to November 2021 were expertly timed, so Tesla shareholders need to pay attention to Musk’s actions and not his words – or lack thereof when it comes to his recent selling.”
After Musk’s Twitter takeover, he told employees there that he sold Tesla shares to “save” their business.
Share price of the electric carmaker Tesla has fallen over 60 percent in 2022 so far (year-to-date). On Wednesday, the stock closed down 2.6 percent at $156.80, dropping the company’s market capitalisation to $495 billion.
Also Read: Here is why Elon Musk, now world’s second richest, is losing his net worth
Alongside his Tesla share sales and Twitter acquisition, Musk has been losing his net worth and has slipped to the second spot in the world’s richest persons list. He lost the first position to Bernard Arnault, the co-founder and CEO of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires' list.
On Thursday, December 15, Musk’s net worth stood at $174 billion, while the net worth of Bernard Arnault & family was $187 billion, according to Forbes.