Musk sells billions worth of Tesla shares over Twitter legal battle

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has recently sold off $6.9 billion ($NZ10.8 billion) worth of his shares in Tesla regarding the legal battle he faces with Twitter over its acquisition.

The billionaire planned to purchase the social media platform earlier this year for the sum of $44 billion but went back on his agreement, ultimately sparking a conflict between the two parties.

Musk’s loss of interest in Twitter stemmed from the number of spam accounts he said were present on the platform among posting negative Tweets about the site itself.

Back in April however, Musk sold $8.5 billion worth of shares announcing, “no further TSLA sales planned.”

His reasoning for the most recent stock sell out was to avoid a future emergency sale of Tesla stock if a legal showdown were to ensue between himself and Twitter.

Legal experts also advised Musk that if he loses the legal battle and is forced to acquire the company or pay a fine, he may have to sell more stock.

It’s possible that Musk is creating his own social media platform as he replied to a Tweet that begged the question to which he replied with, “http://X.com”.

He heads to trial against Twitter on October 17.