Elon Musk sells $4 billion in Tesla shares, presumably for Twitter deal
Detroit(AP): Elon Musk has sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla stock worth roughly 4 billion, most likely to help fund his purchase of Twitter.
Musk reported the sale in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The shares were sold over the past few days, at prices ranging from 872.02 to 999.13.
The world's richest man, who is the CEO of Tesla, tweeted that he doesn't plan any further sales of the company's shares. Most of the sales took place on Tuesday, when Tesla shares closed down 12%, a huge single-day drop.
Analysts said Tesla investors fear Musk will be distracted by Twitter and less engaged in running the electric car company. Twitter agreed to be acquired by Musk on Monday for 44 billion.
It appeared that Musk would borrow up to 25.5 billion from a slew of banks to pay for the takeover of Twitter, but the stock sale potentially could fund some of that.
The deal to buy Twitter at 54.20 per share was announced earlier this week and is expected to close sometime this year. But before the deal is completed, shareholders will have to weigh in. So will regulators in the US and in countries where Twitter does business.
So far though, few hurdles are expected, despite objections from some of Twitter's own employees and from users who worry about Musk's stance on free speech and what it might mean for harassment and hate speech on the platform.
Tesla shares closed Thursday down slightly at 877.51. They are down 17% so far this year. (AP)
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PM Modi holds talks with French President Macron in Mumbai
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron to boost ties in key sectors such as trade, defence, energy and critical technologies.
Macron landed in Mumbai early this morning on a three-day visit to attend the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi and meet PM Modi.
After the talks with Modi, Macron will attend a ceremony to launch the India-France Year of Innovation.
His visit comes days after India cleared a long-pending proposal to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets under a government-to-government framework with France.
It has been billed as one of the world's biggest military procurement programmes in recent years.
It is learnt that shoring up defence cooperation and enhancing bilateral engagement in the critical technology sector are priority areas to take forward the ties.
"Welcome to India! India looks forward to your visit and to advancing our bilateral ties to new heights. I am confident that our discussions will further strengthen cooperation across sectors and contribute to global progress," Modi said on social media earlier in the day in response to a post by Macron.
