Elon Musk, a multi-billionaire, just sold another 22 million shares in Tesla, the creator of electric vehicles, for $3.58 billion (£2.9 billion).
A report submitted to a US financial regulator states that the shares were sold on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.
With this sale, Mr. Musk has now sold roughly $40 billion worth of Tesla stock in the previous year and because of that th is week, Mr. Musk lost his title as the richest person in the world and the newest share sales’ motivation was not made public.
With a 13.4% stake, he is still Tesla’s largest stakeholder, according to financial market data source Refinitiv.
Just days after successfully completing a $44 billion buyout of the social media giant Twitter, Mr. Musk disclosed last month that he had sold 19.5 million Tesla shares worth $3.95 billion.
Musk has sold 94,202,321 shares this year to date for pre-tax revenues of almost $22.93 billion, according to financial data firm. These sales have occurred at an average price of $243.46 per share.
Investors are concerned that Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is taking his focus off of Tesla, which has been one of the poorest performing stocks among big automakers and internet firms this year.
For the first time since 2020, the value of Tesla shares traded on the New York market’s heavily weighted Nasdaq index ended below $500 billion on Wednesday.
The corporation had a value of more than $1 trillion at the end of last year, but in subsequent months, its value has declined.
Twitter takeover
Since completing the acquisition of Twitter in October, Musk has devoted a large amount of his attention to the company.
In order to finance his purchase, Mr. Musk sold shares of Tesla for billions of dollars, which aided in the share price decline.
After months of legal fighting, the Twitter acquisition was finally finalised. Some have suggested that the takeover’s distraction contributed to the decline in Tesla stock price.
Investors have also expressed concern that when the economy declines, higher financing costs deter consumers, and rival companies increase their supply of electric vehicles, demand for the company’s cars may slow.
Along with government inquiries into incidents and its autopilot technology, Tesla has also been impacted by recalls.
