After months of legal wrangling with Twitter, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk had to proceed with his takeover of the social media site in October. A few days after this $44 billion purchase of Twitter, it’s reported that Musk had sold Tesla shares valued at at least $3.95 billion.
This was his first stock release since August. The Securities and Exchange Commission revealed in a filing on Tuesday that Musk had sold 19.5 million more Tesla shares. However, he remains the No. 1 stockholder in his vehicle company,
Investor’s Business Daily noted that Musk lost more money this year on Tesla stock than he lost buying Twitter. As a result, Musk’s wealth plummeted from $340 billion at its peak to $179.5 billion, as measured by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — although he’s by no means the biggest looser this year, which goes to Mark Zuckerberg amid Meta’s bet on the metaverse.
Back in August, Musk tweeted that it was essential to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock if the Twitter agreement was to go through (at the time, he was trying to get out of the deal). To complete his purchase of Twitter, Musk invested billions of his funds, as well as those of his partners, including equity investors Binance, Ron Baron’s BAMCO, Andreessen Horowitz, and Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter.
Read: Elon Musk Initiates Layoffs At Twitter, Class Action Lawsuit Is Filed Against The Company
Tesla’s role in Twitter is seemingly not just their shared head honcho. After Musk took charge of the social media site he reportedly summoned dozens of Tesla engineers to Twitter to help him with code review and other tasks. He also took harsh cost-cutting measures, laying off half of the company’s employees — though some were eventually requested to return.
On stage, he said, “Once Twitter is set on the right path, I think it is a much easier thing to manage” than his other companies, including SpaceX reports CNBC. While Musk remarked that his role as “Chief Twit” and sole director at the social media firm is only temporary, the mystery of who will be the next CEO of Twitter remains unsolved.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that concern is rife among Tesla shareholders, as fears linger that the CEO is spreading himself too thin. At present Twitter is losing money, and since the billionaire took over, several major companies have halted their ads on the platform, including automotive manufacturers General Motors, Stellantis, and Volkswagen.
