The electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla's shares have seen another 22 million shares, worth $3.58 billion, sold by multi-billionaire Elon Musk. The shares were sold this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The latest share sales haven't been given a specific explanation, but they raise Musk's total sales of Tesla stock in the last year to roughly $40 billion. Refinitiv, a source of financial market data, reports that he is still Tesla's largest stakeholder with a 13.4% stake.
Musk's status as the richest man in the world was removed earlier this week.
Musk stated last month that he had sold 19.5 million Tesla shares for $3.95 billion, just days after completing a $44 billion takeover of social media platform Twitter.
Tesla is one of the worst-performing stocks among major automakers and technology companies this year, as investors fear Musk's acquisition of Twitter would divert his attention. For the first time since 2020, the value of Tesla shares listed on New York's technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell below $500 billion on Wednesday.
The company was worth more than $1 trillion at the end of last year, but its value has dropped in subsequent months.
Since completing the acquisition of Twitter in October, Musk has devoted a large amount of his attention to the company. In order to finance his purchase, he sold shares of Tesla for billions of dollars, which aided in the share price decline.
After months of legal wrangling, the Twitter acquisition was finally finalized. Some have suggested that the takeover's distraction contributed to the decline in Tesla stock price. Investors are also concerned that as the economy weakens, higher borrowing costs deter buyers, and other companies increase their electric vehicle offerings, demand for the company's electric cars may slow.
Recalls and government inquiries into crashes and its autopilot system have both hurt Tesla.
Musk lost his position as the world's richest person this week due to a dramatic drop in the value of his Tesla shares this year. According to Forbes and Bloomberg, he was surpassed at the top by Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.
According to Forbes, Musk is now worth $174 billion, while Arnault is worth over $191 billion.
