Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has been selling the company's stock. Reuters
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has been selling the company's stock. Reuters
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has been selling the company's stock. Reuters
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has been selling the company's stock. Reuters

Elon Musk sold almost $4bn of Tesla stock after Twitter purchase


Ian Oxborrow
  • English
  • Arabic

Elon Musk sold almost $4 billion of Tesla stock after he purchased Twitter for $44bn, US Securities and Exchange Commission filings have shown.

Documents filed on November 4, 7 and 8 show the world's richest person sold more than 19 million shares in the electric car company.

The Tesla chief executive has unloaded about $36bn worth of shares in the company in the past year — around half of that since he went public with the Twitter buyout plan, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

The deal to buy Twitter followed months of back and forth as Mr Musk tried to pull out amid concerns about the number of bots on the social media platform.

He sold $6.9bn worth of Tesla shares in August and said at the time: "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."

The stock is currently down 53 per cent from its peak last year, pushing Mr Musk's fortune to $179.5bn from $340bn at the high, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mr Musk said he bought Twitter because he believed it was “important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner without resorting to violence”.

He said last week that the social media platform has had a “massive drop in revenue” because of advertisers pausing spending, without specifying how much it had lost.

Major companies, including US car maker General Motors, consumer food manufacturer General Mills and German car manufacturer Audi, have decided to pause advertising on Twitter as they monitor how things would pan out with Mr Musk now in charge.

Thousands of jobs at Twitter were reportedly cut, although Mr Musk has not specified the exact number.

"Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required," he tweeted on November 5.

“It looks like Musk is preparing for things to stay bad at Twitter for the next year,” Gene Munster of Loup Ventures told Bloomberg after the stock sales became public.

“He’s preparing for Twitter to be a money hole.”

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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Sting & Shaggy

44/876

(Interscope)

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

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The five pillars of Islam

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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: 2018 GMC Terrain

Price, base / as tested: Dh94,600 / Dh159,700

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 353Nm @ 2,500rpm

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.4L  / 100km

RACE CARD

6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m

7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m

7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m

8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m

8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m

9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m

Race results:

1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min

2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec

3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec

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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Updated: November 09, 2022, 9:57 AM`