Monday 15 August 2022 03:49 PM Elon Musk: 'Free speech absolutist' writes column for China's online censors trends now
By Tom Brown for MailOnline
Elon Musk has sold nearly $7 billion worth of Tesla shares, according to legal filings published Tuesday, trying to avoid a fire sale if he is forced into buying Twitter in a court battle set for October.
The Tesla boss sold some 7.9 million shares between August 5 and 9, according to filings published on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website.
He now owns 155.04 million Tesla shares, or just under 15% of the automaker, according to Reuters.
'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, the world's richest man wrote on Twitter late Tuesday.
The cash could act as insurance in case Musk is forced into buying Twitter, a company he originally agreed to buy and then walked away from.
Musk, the richest man in the world, holds the majority of his wealth in car manufacturer Tesla - but if a court should rule against him, the stock price could plummet.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said investors will see the chances of a Twitter deal as 'more likely now.'
His dispute with Twitter started when Musk bought a 9.1% stake in the company, a move which may have violated security laws, then signed an agreement to buy the
