Finance

Musk Sells Tesla Shares for $6.9B

AUG 10 2022·Updated AUG 11 2022

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Story

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images [via The Guardian]

The Facts

On Tues., Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he had sold $6.9B worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, claiming the move was to prevent an emergency sale of shares in case he's forced to buy Twitter.
Reuters
Though Tesla stocks have rebounded 28% since May, their depreciation during the year has reduced Musk's wealth by around $20B. On Wed. morning, Tesla shares rose 3% after declining over 2% on Tuesday.
Bloomberg.com
According to a series of SEC filings, sales of the 7.9M shares happened from Friday to Tuesday. Earlier in April, after selling 9.6M shares to raise $8.6B, Musk stated that he wasn't planning any further sales.
CNN
This reversal comes as the Oct. trial date approaches in Twitter's lawsuit against Musk for attempting to back out of his $44B deal to take over the platform.
guardian
Musk's plans to buy Twitter, made public in April, have been stalled since May as he has attempted to argue that the company didn't provide accurate figures concerning the number of fake accounts in its SEC filings. In July, Musk announced that he was walking away from the deal for that reason.
Business Insider
Musk also declared on Tues. that if he doesn't have to buy Twitter, he will buy some Tesla shares back and consider creating a new social media platform.
NBC

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

The Twitter legal team's actions are inexplicable. After failing to include damages to shareholders in the original $44B deal, they're now seeking to force Musk to complete the purchase even though this could further harm the company. Their lawsuit is likely to fail and the court may impose a fee lower than the $1B breakup fee.

wsj

Narrative B

Musk's lawyers may ultimately be able to avoid his having to close on the $44B deal, but there's no way Twitter will lose this lawsuit. These are business-savvy parties, and neither would have agreed to a specific performance provision without meaning it. The same applies to the $1B breakup fee, which admittedly doesn't reflect the full damages to the shareholders.