Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner Elon Musk has reportedly sold 19.5 million shares of Tesla stock, worth almost $4 billion, following his takeover of the social media platform.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesla CEO and Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has sold almost $4 billion worth of Tesla shares in the days following his takeover of Twitter. Starting on November 4, Musk sold 19.5 million Tesla shares, according to disclosures made public on Tuesday.
(Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Despite having become the world’s wealthiest person partly thanks to his Tesla shares, Musk has sold more than $19 billion worth of the company’s shares this year. After he sold stock in April and August, he said he had no plans to sell any in the near future.
Musk recently acquired all of Twitter’s shares for $54.20 each, having previously agreed in April to make the purchase. According to disclosures, Mr. Musk raised $33.5 billion in equity capital to finance the deal, which also included co-investors. According to regulatory filings, the takeover was also financed with $13 billion in debt.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment on Musk’s recent sales. Tesla shares are down by approximately 50 percent over the past year.
Breitbart News recently reported that Musk is looking for new ways to monetize Twitter, including possibly placing the site behind a paywall. A person familiar with the matter said that Musk and his advisor David Sacks have recently discussed this idea in meetings. A time limit may be placed on the platform, requiring a subscription to continue browsing Twitter, according to the source.
Twitter declined to comment on how serious Musk and Sacks are about creating a paywall. It’s also not clear if the Twitter Blue team will be able to finish the expanded verification project in time for the launch. Despite Twitter’s large debt load and the recent lull in big ad spending, it is obvious that Musk and his close advisors will have to do something to raise revenue significantly. Either way, it seems that Twitter will be undergoing major changes very soon.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.