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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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
