Elon Musk has sold almost US$4bn (£3.2bn) of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) (Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)) shares since securing the US$44bn deal to take over Twitter, it was revealed last night.
The Tesla's chief executive sold about 4.4mln shares on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to four SEC filings.
The filings show most of the CEO's sales occurred on Tuesday, when Tesla's shares slumped 12% over investor concerns that Musk might have to sell some of his shares to fund the Twitter deal.
Musk has offered US$54.20 per share for Twitter, and has secured US$25.5bn of fully committed debt for the acquisition, including US$12.5bn in loans against his Tesla stock.
Twitter agreed to his offer earlier this week, but the deal still needs regulatory and shareholder approval.
Musk wrote on Twitter late Thursday evening that he would not be selling Tesla shares "after today" as Thursday's SEC filing became public.