Elon Musk sells $4 billion in Tesla shares, agency says

Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, sold 4.4 million shares of the company, equivalent to $3.99 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

In a tweet Thursday, Musk said he did not plan to sell any more shares in the automaker.

The disclosure of the sale comes shortly after the announcement of the purchase of Twitter by the billionaire, made this Monday (25). Musk offered US$ 44 billion for the social network, almost half of that amount (US$ 21 billion) in personal assets, that is, in the individual. The businessman’s fortune is estimated at US$ 219 billion.

The model designed for the operation has put strong pressure on other businesses by the South African billionaire. Tesla shares had already been falling throughout the week, causing the company to lose about $125 billion in market value as investors feared Musk would sell part of his stake – which happened on Thursday.

To complete the purchase of Twitter, the businessman must still rely on a collective loan of up to US$ 25.5 billion (R$ 126.6 billion) from large Wall Street banks, led by Morgan Stanley, which advised the billionaire during social media negotiations.

Of the amount to be raised with market agents, about US$ 12.5 billion (R$ 62 billion) will come from a loan guaranteed by the stake held by Musk in the automaker Tesla. The billionaire’s share of the electric vehicle maker is estimated at around US$170 billion.

The other US$ 13 billion (R$ 64.5 billion) should be obtained in the market through the issuance of debts of companies controlled by the entrepreneur.

People familiar with the deal say Musk would have agreed to pay a fine if the deal failed for reasons unrelated to funding problems. The value would be US$ 1 billion, considered low in this type of negotiation – equivalent to less than 1% of the billionaire’s fortune.