By Will Feuer

 

Twitter Inc. shares rose closer to the price at which Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk initially agreed to buy the social media company after Mr. Musk disclosed his sale of some $7 billion worth of Tesla shares.

Twitter stock rose 4% to $44.56 a share in premarket trading. In April, Mr. Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, but the stock has since fallen from the deal price after Mr. Musk expressed interest in abandoning the deal.

On Tuesday, Mr. Musk disclosed that he sold around 7.9 million shares, worth nearly $7 billion, between Friday and Tuesday, leaving him with a 15% stake in the electric car company.

The Tesla boss has been on a selling spree over the past year, during which he has cashed out roughly $32 billion worth of shares in the electric-vehicle maker. That includes around $8.5 billion of sales in April, while Mr. Musk was lining up financing to take over Twitter. At the time, he tweeted: "No further TSLA sales planned after today."

Asked on Twitter if he was done selling shares, Mr. Musk tweeted, "Yes."

"In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don't come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock," he said on Twitter.

Twitter is suing Mr. Musk in an effort to force him to go through with the agreed-on takeover, which Mr. Musk has sought to abandon. The case is headed to court in October. If the judge were to force Mr. Musk to consummate the deal, he could be on the hook for more than $33 billion in equity financing, according to a regulatory filing.

Mr. Musk already owns a roughly 9% stake in Twitter. Co-investors, which include a Saudi prince, Larry Ellison, and a bitcoin exchange, have offered to pitch in about $7 billion for a stake in the $44 billion buyout.

 

Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2022 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Fev 2024 até Mar 2024 Click aqui para mais gráficos Twitter.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Mar 2023 até Mar 2024 Click aqui para mais gráficos Twitter.