Elon musk sells $6.9 billion of Tesla shares in preparation for Twitter trial

Ahead of Twitter and Elon Musk going head-to-head inside of a Delaware courtroom in two months, Musk has made major adjustments in his Tesla shares. This week, the world’s richest man sold $6.9 billion of his Tesla stock. Musk has dumped more than $30 billion of the company’s shares since November 2021.

“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 said in response to a tweet about his selling of Tesla shares.

Twitter shares rose 3.5% to $44.35 in early trading but were still significantly below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share. Tesla shares were up nearly 4% at $882.

Musk announced the Twitter deal was terminated one month ago after questioning the social media platform’s data on bot accounts. Twitter sued Musk to try and enforce the deal, with Musk responding with a countersuit.

The legal battle over the purchase will take place Oct. 17 and last five days, according to the Delaware judge presiding over the case. Musk said he will buy back Tesla shares if he wins against Twitter and wipes his hands clean of the purchase agreement. However, some experts say the selling of shares actually gives the Twitter deal a better shot at getting done.

“Elon’s sale of (Tesla shares) over the past three days significantly increases odds the (Twitter) deal gets done, albeit at a slightly lower price $50-$51/share,” Gary Black, managing partner of Future Fund LLC, said in a tweet.

The $30 billion of Tesla shares Musk has sold includes $8.5 billion sold back in in April. At the time, Musk said there were no further sales planned. Since then, legal experts have suggested that if Musk is forced to complete the acquisition or settle the dispute with a stiff penalty, he was likely to sell more Tesla shares.

Reuters contributed to this report.