Published - December 15, 2022 @ 12:02 PM (EET)

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In a week when Elon Musk lost his title as the world's wealthiest man on Bloomberg's ranking, the Tesla CEO unloaded more than $3.5 billion worth of shares over three consecutive days, a regulatory disclosure revealed Wednesday.

Though Musk, earlier this year, told his millions of Twitter followers that he had 'no other Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) sales planned' after 28 April, the latest filing marks the fourth sale this year.

So far, Musk has sold 94,202,321 shares at an average price of $243.46 per share, according to research firm VerityData.  Including this week's transaction, the shares tally stands at over $39 billion since the company's stock peaked in November 2021.

WHY IT MATTERS

While it wasn't clear what prompted Musk to sell additional Tesla stock, investors have grown increasingly frustrated as the company's shares have dropped 55% to two-year lows.

The sale is also the second one Musk has made since buying Twitter for $44 billion, which adds concerns about rising interest rates that make cars more expensive for consumers and demand issues in China.

Analyst Tony Sycamore at brokerage IG Markets, where Tesla is a popular stock among small-time investors, said, "It doesn't put a lot of confidence in the business or speak volumes for where his attention is at."  

He added, "It's not a good situation.  I've spoken to a lot of investors who have Tesla shares, and they're absolutely furious at Elon."

NOW WHAT

Musk used significant amounts of borrowed capital that have now been added to Twitter's balance sheet to help finance the takeover, and as part of the buyout, the social media giant took on around $13 billion in debt.  

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Analysts estimated that could leave the company owning annual interest payments of over $1 billion compared with about $51 million in 2021.  Considering that interest rates on about half of the debt aren't locked in, these repayments could be even more expensive.

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On Wednesday, Tesla shares closed down 2.58% and are currently tracking for its worst annual stock-price performance on record.  Moreover, Musk's fortune has declined by more than $100 billion this year to around $160 billion.

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Moreover, the latest sales leave Musk owning about 13.4% of Tesla.  While he remains the company's largest shareholder, selling stock could weaken his control over the automaker.

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