Elon Musk: Can he finance the purchase of Twitter?

San Francisco, 4/30/2022

Elon Musk sold about $8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock this week that could help him fund his purchase of Twitter.

The Tesla CEO sold 4.4 million shares on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by more than 5 million shares on Thursday, according to regulatory documents.

The 9.6 million shares sold this week represent 5.6% of Musk’s stake in Tesla. After Thursday’s announcement, Musk tweeted, „No further TSLA sales planned after today.“

To complete the purchase of Twitter, Musk needs $21 billion in cash. The rest will be financed with debt and a margin loan.

Musk has now sold more than $24 billion worth of Tesla stock in six months.

Musk has told banks, according to some reports, that he plans to cut costs at Twitter by lowering executive and board salaries and finding new ways to monetize tweets.

Twitter on Monday accepted Musk’s $44 billion takeover offer to take the company private. On Thursday, Twitter reported quarterly revenue of $1.2 billion for the first quarter of 2022, up 16% year-over-year, and a 16% increase in daily active users.