The Twitter takeover will cost Elon Musk billions – and probably more than he had hoped for. In order to finance the deal, the billionaire is once again selling shares in his carmaker Tesla. Total package value: more than $3.5 billion.
Elon Musk sold more than $3.5 billion worth of Tesla stock this week. This is the second time Musk has divested from Tesla shares since taking over Twitter. According to a regulatory filing, Musk sold nearly 22 million Tesla shares in three days ended Dec. 14. Musk has sold more than $39 billion worth of Tesla stock since November last year.
It’s not clear what prompted the Tesla CEO to make the recent sales. The company did not respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday, however, Musk tweeted, “At the risk of stating the obvious, beware of debt in turbulent macroeconomic conditions, especially if the Fed continues to hike rates.”
Twitter took on $13 billion in debt as part of Musk’s takeover. Analysts have estimated that the social media company could face more than $1 billion in annual interest payments, compared to about $51 million in 2021.
Musk’s focus on Twitter has angered some Tesla investors as the company posted its worst annual stock performance in its history. Tesla shares ended Wednesday down 2.58 percent at $156.80, their lowest level in more than two years. Overall, the course has lost around 55 percent this year.
This also has an impact on Musk’s wealth, which has declined by more than $100 billion to around $160 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Musk previously sold Tesla shares in April, August, and November of this year. After this month’s transactions, Musk still owns about 13.4 percent of Tesla shares, making him still by far the largest shareholder in the electric car maker. Musk doesn’t receive a salary from Tesla and instead receives shares.
