Elon Musk Sells $8.5 Billion Worth Of Tesla Shares For Twitter Purchase

Elon Musk might have closed the deal to purchase Twitter, but people are just getting to know how much it cost the billionaire in terms of his assets.

Tesla CEO, Musk, initially purchased a 9% stake in Twitter which made him the biggest shareholder in the company. He was then offered a seat on the board of directors but refused it. He then launched the hostile takeover of the social media giant and eventually acquired it entirely for $44 billion.

However, he had to pay a very high price to fund such a massive purchase. According to CNN, Musk sold $8.5 billion dollars worth of Tesla’s shares after the company took up on his offer.  

Musk sold 3.7 million shares on Tuesday for $3.3 billion. On Wednesday, he sold 735,000 shares for $654 million. The transactions were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this Thursday.

The next morning, Musk revealed that he had sold an extra 5.2 million shares for $4.5 billion dollars. The average price of each share was reportedly around $883.09 dollars. The filings don’t mention the reason for sale but it is clear he amassed funds for his recent purchase.

The outlet also mentioned that the sales only represent about 5.6% of his total shares and less than 4% of his total holdings of Tesla if the stock options he controls are included. That being said, it remains to be seen how he transforms the platform in near future now that he has promised to make it a bastion of free speech.

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