Elon Musk, who lost his No. 1 spot on Bloomberg’s list of the richest persons in the world this week, sold Tesla stock for the fourth time in 2022.
On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he was ranked No. 2 behind France’s Bernard Arnault with a net worth of $160.9 billion as of Wednesday December 14. He has lost $109.4 billion in wealth so far this year.
According to a filing made public late on Wednesday in the US, Tesla’s CEO sold approximately 22 million shares of the electric vehicle manufacturer for $3.58 billion which took place between December 12 and December 14.
As investors grow more concerned about Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, along with concerns about rising interest rates that will increase consumer car prices and problems with demand in China, Tesla’s second-largest market after the US, Tesla shares have fallen by 55% this year.
In order to help finance the Twitter acquisition, Elon Musk used sizeable amounts of borrowed funds that are currently listed on Twitter’s balance sheet. From $1.7 billion prior to the deal, Twitter’s debt load has increased to approximately $13 billion and now includes additional bond types that have the potential to be converted into shares of stock.
With the interest rates on nearly half of that debt not locked in and subject to market fluctuations, Twitter now faces annual interest payments of close to $1.2 billion, which may become considerably more expensive.
“At risk of stating obvious, beware of debt in turbulent macroeconomic conditions, especially when Fed keeps raising rates,” Musk tweeted.
According to Bloomberg data, Musk’s recent sales have reduced his ownership share in the company to around 13%. Musk, the CEO of Tesla since 2008, continues to retain the majority of the company’s shares.
Author-Roberta Appiah
