Musk, Who Said He Wouldn't Sell More, Sells Tesla Shares Worth 4.6 Trillion Won

The Fourth Selling Move This Year

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has sold Tesla shares worth $3.58 billion (approximately 4.6587 trillion KRW). This is the fourth time Musk has sold Tesla shares this year.

According to Bloomberg on the 14th (local time), Musk disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the market closed that he sold 22 million Tesla shares. The share sales took place between the 12th and 14th.

Musk has been selling Tesla shares to raise funds for the Twitter acquisition. Earlier in April, he sold about $8.5 billion worth of shares and pledged "not to sell more," but he subsequently sold $6.9 billion in August and $3.95 billion in November.

Concerns are spreading in the market that Musk may continue to sell more shares, causing investor sentiment to deteriorate sharply.

On the same day, Tesla shares listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market closed down 2.58% at $156.80. Due to the sharp decline in stock price, Tesla’s market capitalization shrank to $495.1 billion. This is the first time in two years since November 2020 that Tesla’s market cap has fallen below the $500 billion mark.

This year, Tesla’s stock price has plunged 55% (based on the closing price on this day). Most of the decline occurred after the Twitter acquisition news broke. Since the end of September, when the Twitter acquisition news became public, Tesla’s stock price has dropped 41%. During this period, the S&P 500 index rose 11%, and the Nasdaq 100 index increased 7%.

Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said, "Although Musk has already sold a significant number of Tesla shares to raise funds for the Twitter acquisition, the ongoing Twitter restructuring is expected to require substantial costs." He added, "Investors believe Musk’s stock selling is not over yet."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.