Musk Sells $3.5B in Tesla Stock

Facts

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk disclosed Wednesday that he sold 22M shares in the electric car company over three days this week. The total value of the sale was worth $3.6B.
• In cashing out stock for the second time since his $44B purchase of Twitter in October, Musk has now totaled $40B in stock sales in 2022.
• Musk’s share sale came hours after Tesla's market value plunged below $500B for the first time since 2020. Investors have cited Musk’s alleged divided focus between Tesla and Twitter for the dip.
• Investors did not indicate that the sale was planned. Musk has until Friday to sell any additional stock before Tesla goes into a quiet fiscal period until the end of the quarter.
• Tesla's stock prices closed 2.6% lower at $156.80 on Wednesday, bringing the company's market capitalization to $495 billion. Year-to-date, the company's shares have declined by 55%.

Sources: Reuters, Daily Mail, TechCrunch, and NBC.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by New York Times. Tesla shareholders are worried, and Musk is giving them every reason to panic. He’s using Tesla as his personal ATM to fund his new toy, Twitter, while being distracted by the social media platform at a time when the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive. Tesla deserves a full-time CEO, and it might be time for the company’s board to intervene to save the carmaker.
• Narrative B, as provided by FOX News. Tesla shareholders need to be patient. When Musk is done fixing Twitter — thinning out its staff, implementing account verification, and making sure everyone has access to free speech — Tesla will benefit in the long term. And once things at Twitter are working smoothly, Musk will find a capable CEO and be back to equally focusing on all his companies.