SEC documents show Elon Musk dumped 4.4 million shares of Tesla stock worth nearly $4 billion.
The stock sale took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, while shares of the electric car company plummeted 20 percent, and Ceo Musk simply tweeted on Thursday that "there are no plans to sell Tesla stock after today." ”
Meanwhile, the world's richest man is pushing ahead with plans to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
According to SEC documents, Musk owns a 17 percent stake in Tesla, and he sold Tesla stock for $870 to $1,000 a share.
Musk bought Twitter as collateral for $12.5 billion in Tesla shares. Previously, Tesla shares fell as investors feared he would focus too much on the latest acquisition.
Wade Bush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Musk's focus on Twitter and the recent sell-off of Tesla stock portend the future of the electric car company.
Ives told Bloomberg: "It's a brutal cycle for Tesla investors, and Musk selling more stock casts a shadow over the company. His deal with Twitter is putting a heavy burden on Tesla's stock. ”
On Tuesday, Musk began reducing his stake in Tesla stock.
Musk intends to buy Twitter with a stake in Tesla, plus a $13 billion loan and $21 billion in personal assets.
According to documents filed Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, musk will owe $1 billion in termination fees if he can't get enough money to complete the deal.
However, if Twitter accepts a competitor's offer, or if shareholders reject the deal, it may need to pay Musk a $1 billion termination fee.
On Thursday, Twitter released documents filed with the SEC. In the report, Twitter's revenue fell short of expectations, which could be one of the company's last quarterly earnings reports after going public.
The social media company said first-quarter revenue totaled $1.2 billion, up 16 percent from last year but below the $1.23 billion expected by Wall Street analysts.
However, Twitter's report said the average daily active user in the quarter was 229 million, up 16 percent from the same period last year, a positive sign of growth.
Twitter canceled conference calls with executives and industry analysts, making it difficult for outsiders to get a better idea of the company's current financial position.
The company said in a statement: "Given Elon Musk's upcoming acquisition of Twitter, we will not provide any forward guidance and withdraw all previously provided targets and outlooks." ”
Before that, Twitter employees warned that there would be a "massive employee turnover" when Musk took over the company, with one describing the world's richest man as "a man with moral problems."