: Elon Musk sells nearly $4 billion in Tesla stock following Twitter deal

United States

Elon Musk sold nearly $ 4 billion in Tesla Inc. stock this week, after reaching an agreement with Twitter Inc.’s board of directors to buy the company for $ 44 billion.

In a series of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission released late Thursday, the CEO disclosed he sold about 4.4 million Tesla shares TSLA, -0.45% on Tuesday and Wednesday, for about $ 3.9 billion. Sale prices varied from about $ 870 to $ 999 a share.

In a tweet late Thursday, Musk said “No further TSLA sales planned after today.”

On Monday, Twitter TWTR, +0.97% said it had accepted Musk’s buyout bid at $ 54.20 a share, a roughly 38% premium as of April 1, when Musk disclosed his 9% stake in the social-media company.

Musk said he’d personally chip in about $ 21 billion, leading to speculation that he would sell another significant chunk of his Tesla stake. That, and worries that Twitter would distract Musk from his Tesla duties, sent Tesla stock sinking, approaching weekly losses of about 15%.

At the end of last year, Musk sold about 15.8 million Tesla shares, worth about $ 16 billion, as he divested 10% of his stake in the electric-vehicle company to help pay a reported $ 11 billion tax bill.

Tesla shares are down 17% year to date, but up 30% over the past 12 months, compared to the S&P 500’s SPX, +2.47% 10% decline and 2% gain over those spans.