Now the second richest person in the world, Elon Musk sold 22 million shares of Tesla worth $3.58 billion, according to a filing with the U.S. financial regulator. If we sum up all the shares he has sold over the past year and this year, we arrive at nearly $40 billion in value.
Although he just sold an additional 22 million shares, Musk remains Tesla’s largest shareholder with a 13.4 percent stake. Last month, Musk revealed that he sold 19.5 million shares of Tesla, then worth $3.95 billion, just a few days after completing the $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform Twitter.
Tesla is one of the worst-performing stocks among major automakers and technology companies this year, due to investor fears that Musk has become too focused on managing Twitter and that his new acquisition is distracting him too much.
The current value of Tesla’s stock on the tech-rich Nasdaq index in New York has fallen below $500 billion for the first time since 2020. At the end of last year, the company was valued at over $1 trillion, but its value has declined in recent months, precisely when Musk began to flirt with Twitter. Additionally, Musk has financed the purchase of Twitter from the sale of Tesla shares, which has contributed to the decline in Tesla’s stock.
Investors have also been concerned that demand for the company’s electric vehicles could slow down as the economy weakens, higher borrowing costs discourage buyers, and other companies increase their electric vehicle offerings.
Due to all of the above, Musk lost his position as the richest person in the world this week after a sharp drop in Tesla’s stock value, and according to Forbes and Bloomberg, he was surpassed by Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the luxury goods group LVMH. However, there is not much to lament for Elon as he is still worth around $174 billion.
