According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Musk, who paid $44 billion for Twitter, sold 19.5 million shares of the electric vehicle manufacturer between November 4 and November 8.
The takeover of Twitter has not been easy, and some major advertisers, including United Airlines, General Motors, REI, General Mills, and Audi, have left the social media platform in recent weeks.
With the US midterm elections approaching, Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter has been in the news for the previous two weeks and is still doing so. The fact that Elon Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla shares only days after completing his $44 billion acquisition of the social media network was an intriguing occurrence that almost went unreported.
According to regulatory filings obtained by Reuters from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk sold 19.5 million shares between October 4 and October 8, though the sale’s motivation was not made clear.
In August, he went on to sell a further $6.9 billion worth of Tesla shares, citing the necessity for the funds to pay for the purchase of the social networking platform as his justification. He reiterated at the time that he had stopped selling Tesla stock.
Musk agreed that Twitter, which mainly relies on advertising for revenue, had experienced “a big loss in revenue.” Some business professionals were frustrated to learn that Musk was still selling Tesla shares after he had said he was finished.
Tesla Inc. stock is where the majority of Musk’s wealth is invested. According to Forbes, his net worth fell below $200 billion on Tuesday, but he is still the richest man in the world.
Musk took strong action after he took control of Twitter last month, firing half the workforce and proposing to charge users $8 per month for blue checkmarks of authenticity. Since Twitter is losing more than $4 million a day, the world’s richest man claimed he had “no choice” but to reduce the company’s workforce.
