Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has sold roughly US$8.5 billion worth of shares in the electric car maker, just days after he agreed to buy Twitter.
The sale has led to speculation that it will help to finance his planned $44-billion buyout of the social media platform, the BBC reports.
Twitter’s board agreed on Monday to accept a takeover offer from Musk.
Shares in Tesla fell sharply earlier this week, amid speculation that Musk would sell part of his stake in the carmaker to fund the deal. He tweeted on Thursday evening that he had no plans to sell any more of his shares in the electric carmaker.
Filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Musk sold 9.6 million Tesla shares this week. He still owns more than 15% of the company.
The move marked his first sale of Tesla shares since he offloaded $16.4 billion worth of stock in November and December last year.
Tesla’s shares have fallen by around 20% since Musk revealed earlier this month that he had bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter.
On Tuesday alone, more than $125 billion was wiped off the car maker’s stock market value after the social media firm’s board accepted his takeover offer.
Musk said he would commit $21 billion of his assets to help finance the $44-billion deal.
