Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla shares this week, though it wasn’t clear where the proceeds went.
The Tesla CEO and Twitter’s new owner sold shares Monday through Wednesday, according to documents filed Wednesday night by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Since April, Musk has sold $23 billion worth of Tesla stock in the U.S., much of which will likely go to fund his $44 billion U.S. acquisition of Twitter.
The sale comes at a time when the electric car and solar panel maker’s stock has plummeted, losing more than half its value since Musk first announced in April that he would buy Twitter stock.
The drop in stock prices has left Musk as the world’s richest person, according to Forbes, and his net worth has plummeted to $174 billion. He was overtaken by French fashion and cosmetics mogul Bernard Arnault last week.
Twitter’s takeover wasn’t smooth and some big companies stopped advertising on the social media platform. Musk said Twitter’s “revenue dropped significantly” due to advertiser losses.
Investors have recently been punishing Tesla stock for growing concerns that Musk is spending a lot of time on Twitter and getting distracted from the car company.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said Musk is now a villain in the eyes of Tesla investors. He said Tesla’s fundamentals remain sound, but his behavior on Twitter is hurting the company’s brand. “The Twitter overhang is a nightmare and a nightmare for which no one but Musk is to blame,” Ives said in his email.
A message was left with Tesla on Wednesday night asking for comment on the stock sale.
