So why is Tesla CEO Elon Musk still raising billions of dollars in cash by selling more and more of his stake in the electric vehicle maker?
Perhaps it is as Musk tweeted late Tuesday night (US time) that it was important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock amid a legal showdown with Twitter over a his $US44 billion takeover.
But the latest sale was revealed in six filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission late on Tuesday night which revealed that Musk had sold a further 7.92 million shares of the electric vehicle maker worth $US6.9 billion.
The sales were made between August 5 and August 9 (Tuesday).
In April he raised $US8.5 billion by selling 9.6 million Tesla shares to help finance the cash side of his Twitter bid.
Musk had said then that there were “no further TSLA sales planned”.
But then that all fell apart and he called off the bid, only to be forced to confront Twitter in court next month as the social media company tries to enforce Musk’s overly generous offer.
The latest sales bring total stock sales by Musk to about $US32 billion ($A45.7 billion) in less than one year.
He now owns 155.04 million Tesla shares worth $US131 billion, or 14.8% of Tesla.
Musk tore up his April 25 agreement to buy Twitter (claiming he was misled on bot or fraudulent Twitter accounts – but he didn’t do any due diligence before launching his bid) and the two sides face a drawn-out legal battle that could still cost Musk billions of dollars.
The two sides head to trial in Delaware on October 17.
“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,” he said in his tweet late Tuesday.
When someone else asked on Twitter Tuesday if he would repurchase Tesla shares if the Twitter deal does not close, Musk replied “Yes.”
