By Senad Karaahmetovic
Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares, which he says he could potentially use if the court forces him to complete the $44 billion Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) acquisition later this year.
According to SEC filings, Musk sold 7,924,107 $TSLA shares worth about $6.9 billion with an average weighted price of $869.09. Selling was done on August 5th, 8th, and 9th.
Responding to a tweet asking him if he’s done selling, Musk said “yes” and added:
"In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.”
Musk put the Twitter deal on hold last month, saying the social media company failed to provide him with the required information about the number of bot and spam accounts on the platform. In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Tesla boss to force him to complete the deal, dismissing his allegations that he was being misled about spam accounts data.
Musk and Twitter are set to meet in court on October 17.
"Street will read through this poker move that chances of Twitter deal more likely now," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Musk also said that he would buy the stock again if the Twitter deal falls apart.
The move comes a few months after Musk sold $8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock. He said at the time that he does not plan on selling more shares of the carmaker, however, law professionals warned that Musk could sell more Tesla shares if he is forced to complete the deal or pay a penalty.
The billionaire sold roughly 7.92 million Tesla shares from August 5 to August 9, reducing his stake to below 15%. Musk has offloaded a total of $32 billion worth of Tesla shares in less than a year.
The Tesla CEO also hinted at possible plans to start his own social media platform. A Twitter user asked Musk whether he thought about such moves, to which he replied “X.com”.
Tesla shares are up over 2% in premarket Wednesday.