Elon Musk Reduces Tesla Investment, As Twitter Court Battle Nears

The Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Elon Musk, has sold part of his shares in the vehicle manufacturer, as he prepares for a court battle with social networking site, Twitter.

Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of Tesla shares, according to documents submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to increase his available cash ahead of the October court trial on the acquisition of Twitter.

Prime Business Africa had reported that Musk initially planned to acquire Twitter at $44 billion, but backed out of the deal, accusing the board of the social media company of breaching its contract.

Musk alleged that Twitter’s board ignored his request for data on its users, however, the Company said it provided needed information according to their acquisition agreement.

In a bid to compel Musk in completing the acquisition, Twitter sued the world’s richest man, and with the trial set to begin in October, which could swing in the billionaire’s or Twitter’s favour, the investor is piling up his cash reserve.

Prior to the sell off on Tuesday, Musk had sold $8.5 billion of stock in April, which is reported to be cash for funding the acquisition, before the founder of spacecraft, SpaceX, pulled out of the deal.

At the time, the billionaire had also promised to halt sale of Tesla stock, “No further TSLA sales planned after today.”