Elon Musk sells nearly US$7 billion worth of Tesla stock ahead of Twitter fight

Elon Musk has sold nearly US$7 billion worth of Tesla shares as the billionaire gets his finances in order ahead of his legal battle with Twitter.

Musk revealed in a series of regulatory filings that he had offloaded about eight million shares of his company Tesla Inc. in recent days.

« In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal through and certain financial partners don’t materialize, it’s important to avoid a fire sale of Tesla stock, » Musk tweeted on Tuesday. evening.

Musk is by far the largest individual shareholder of Tesla and Twitter.

Tesla shares rose nearly 2% before the opening bell on Wednesday. Shares of Twitter Inc., up 16% in the past month as most believe Musk faces a long chance of success in court, jumped another 3%.

Musk offered to buy Twitter, then tried to pull out

Musk hit back at Twitter last week, accusing the company of fraud over its failed $44 billion acquisition. He claimed Twitter was withholding critical information and misleading his team about the size of its user base.

Musk alleges that Twitter committed fraud, breach of contract and violation of a securities law in Texas, where Musk lives.

Musk offered to buy Twitter earlier this year, then tried to walk away from the deal, claiming the social platform was infested with more « spam bots » and fake accounts than Twitter n had revealed.

Musk said in the spring that he did not expect any major sale of his stake in Tesla after securing financing to acquire Twitter, but Dan Ives, an industry analyst at Wedbush, said Wednesday that « the situation has changed dramatically. »

Wedbush raised its price target for Twitter shares, « With the odds of a Twitter deal now more likely in our view and the street seeing through this Musk poker move, » Ives wrote to clients.

« We may also see Musk trying to resolve this powder keg situation before the Twitter deal formally goes to court in October, » Ives continued. “At a minimum, we see Twitter getting a massive settlement from Musk in the $5-10 billion range that is starting to factor into the stock.”