(Washington) Elon Musk sold nearly $ 4 billion of car manufacturer Tesla between Friday and Tuesday, when he must finance the takeover, a little over a week ago, of Twitter for 44 billion of dollars.
Posted yesterday at 10:09 p.m.
The three transactions involve a total of more than 19 million shares, or just over 4% of the total number of securities owned by Mr. Musk, and 0.6% of the total number of shares outstanding, according to forms filed. with the American Stock Exchange Constable (SEC).
This is not the first operation of its kind carried out by the boss of Tesla in view of his takeover of Twitter since Mr. Musk has already sold $ 15.5 billion in shares.
These securities sales should allow it to partially finance the takeover of the microblogging platform, which is done in cash for 27 billion dollars, while a good part of the balance is financed by loans backed by Twitter which will ensure the financial burden and reimbursement.
The three phases of selling had an impact on the share price, which rose in three sessions from $222.50 a share at the opening on Friday to $191.30 at the close on Tuesday, a down 14%.
On Twitter, several small Tesla holders were worried about these repeated sales of securities and their consequences on the share price, but also about the excessive attention paid by Elon Musk to Twitter to the detriment of the automotive group.
“I continue to do a lot of work for Tesla! I was at our engineering office in Palo Alto (California, editor’s note) until late Thursday night, ”retorted Mr. Musk on his Twitter account.
The billionaire took control of the social network on October 28, putting at the same time a premature end to what promised to be a long legal battle with the group’s board of directors, after announcing to buy Twitter for 44 billion dollars. dollars and then give it up.
As soon as the operation was finalized, Mr. Musk dismissed all of the managers as well as 50% of the group’s employees, and announced the launch of a completely redesigned Twitter Blue subscription offer, which makes it possible to obtain the certification and various benefits for $8 per month.
The objective is to diversify its income while the platform depends 90% on advertising and loses, according to Elon Musk, 4 million dollars a day.
A financial situation that has worsened since its takeover, after several large advertisers suspended their spending on Twitter.
Critics have come from all sides since the takeover of Twitter, including the UN which urged Elon Musk to uphold human rights on the social network.
On Tuesday, MEPs expressed their concern, calling for Mr. Musk to be heard by the European Parliament in order to “learn more about his intentions” and remind him of his obligations.