Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has sold nearly four billion US dollars’ worth (£3.43 billion) of Tesla shares, according to regulatory filings in America.
Tesla CEO Mr Musk, who bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars (£38 billion), sold 19.5 million shares in the electric car company from November 4 to November 8, according to Tuesday’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
He sold seven billion dollars (£6 billion) of his Tesla stock in August as he worked to finance the Twitter purchase he was trying to get out of at the time.
In all, Mr Musk has sold more than 19 billion dollars’ worth (£16.5 billion) of Tesla stock since April, including those in Tuesday’s filings, likely to fund his share of the Twitter purchase.
Most of Mr Musk’s wealth is tied up in shares in Tesla. On Tuesday, his personal net worth dropped below 200 billion dollars (£173 billion), according to Forbes, but he is still the world’s richest person.
Mr Musk had lined up banks including Morgan Stanley to help finance the Twitter deal.
His original share of the deal was about 15.5 billion dollars, Wedbush Analyst Dan Ives estimated. But if equity investors dropped out, Mr Musk would be on the hook to replace them or throw in more of his own money.
Tesla’s shares closed down $5.78 (£5), or 2.9%, at 191.30 dollars (£166). The stock has lost 52% of its value since the start of this year. In comparison, the S&P 500 index has lost about 20% of its value so far this year.
