Musk takesover Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who owns more than 15 per cent of the company, has sold roughly £6.8bn ($8.5bn) worth of shares in the electric car maker just days after he agreed to buy Twitter, triggering a sharp 20 % fall in Tesla shares wiping out $21bn of the carmaker’ stock market value, earlier this week amid speculation that Musk would sell part of his stake in the Electric carmaker to fund the deal.

Twitter’s board agreed on Monday to accept a takeover offer from Mr. Elon Musk.

According filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Mr. Musk sold a total of 9.6million Tesla shares. The move marked his first sale of Tesla shares since he offloaded $16.4bn worth of stocks in November and December last year after he asked his 89 million Twitter followers whether he should sell 10 per cent of his stake in the electric car. Mr. Musk earlier bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter.

Mr. Musk is the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of almost $250bn mostly due to his Tesla stake, he also has more than 40 per cent stake in the rocket company SpaceX, which is estimated to be worth $100bn.

Days after striking the takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk has been allegedly accused of bullying its legal chief Vijaya Gadde, by Dick Costolo, the social media website’s former CEO. Mr. Musk suggested the company had a left-wing bias and needs to be politically neutral.