Tesla chief Elon Musk sold about $8.4 billion worth of shares in the electric carmaker in the days after Twitter's board agreed to his $44 billion takeover offer, according to US securities filings.
Musk unloaded about 9.6 million Tesla shares in a series of transactions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to filings Thursday and Friday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US market regulator.
The transactions, generally priced between $800 and $995 per share, following Monday's announcement he would acquire Twitter and take it private in a deal that relies heavily on Musk's personal fortune.
Following these sales, Musk, the world's richest person, holds around 163 million shares in Tesla, via a trust.
"No further TSLA sales after today," Elon Musk tweeted late Thursday, using Tesla's stock symbol.
To finance the Twitter takeover confirmed on Monday, Musk has pledged up to $21 billion in personal fortune, with the rest covered in debt.
Twitter shares rose 1.6% to $49.77 in Friday morning trading.
That's still well below Musk's proposed $54.20 per share, and the discrepancy market observers are talking about indicates the risk of not closing the deal.
Some analysts have expressed doubts about whether the deal will close, including funding issues and fears that Twitter will sabotage Musk's Tesla operations.
Tesla stock fell sharply over the week, up 4.4% on Friday to hit $916.30.
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