Musk sells another $3.6 billion worth of Tesla shares unexpectedly

In an aerial view, brand new Tesla cars sit in a parking lot at the Tesla factory on October 19, 2022 in Fremont, California.
In an aerial view, brand new Tesla cars sit in a parking lot at the Tesla factory on October 19, 2022 in Fremont, California. Photo credit Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Tesla CEO and the world’s richest man Elon Musk sold an estimated 22 million shares of his company on Wednesday, totaling around $3.6 billion, according to financial filings.

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The filings from the Securities and Exchange Commission shared that the transaction took place this week, despite Musk saying in April that he had “no further TSLA sales planned.”

So far this year, Musk has sold more than 94.2 million shares of the electric vehicle company at an average price of $243.46 per share, financial research firm VerityData reported.

Those shares had a pretax price of $22.93 billion.

Ben Silverman, the director of research for VerityData, spoke with CNBC on Wednesday about the sale. Silverman said, “Musk’s prior sales going back to November 2021 were expertly timed, so Tesla shareholders need to pay attention to Musk’s actions and not his words — or lack thereof when it comes to his recent selling.”

Musk, who is also the new owner and CEO of Twitter, has continued to sell sizable amounts of Tesla after closing on the $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.

He told employees of the social media site that he sold some of his Tesla shares so he could “save” their business, NBC News reported.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images