Musk Does What He Said He Wouldn't

Elon Musk has reneged on his vow not to sell more Tesla stock. The billionaire just sold $6.9 billion in stock in the company ahead of a court battle that could force him to follow through on his earlier offer to buy Twitter. He sold 7.92 million shares between Friday and Tuesday, according to an SEC filing. That means he likely holds 155 million shares, or just under a 15% stake in Tesla, per the Guardian. The founder sold $5 billion in shares in November, and another $8.5 billion in shares in April. At that time, he said he wouldn't sell any more. However, Gizmodo's Matt Novak notes "the stock just happened to have recovered from a downturn when Musk sold." It hit $925 per share, up from $620 in late May.

"In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock," Musk tweeted Tuesday. He indicated he was done selling and would buy up shares again if a court approves of him backing out of the deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. A trial is set for October in Delaware. "But we know precisely how much we can trust Musk's word," Novak writes, citing a 2013 tweet in which Musk claimed "just as my money was the first in, it will be the last out." Also on Tuesday, Musk responded to a user who asked about whether he'd thought about starting his own social media company. "X.com," he wrote. (More Elon Musk stories.)