Elon Musk has sold another tranche of Tesla shares, this time worth $3.6 billion, amidst ongoing chaos related to his twitter takeover. The sale was announced in a Form 4 filing with the SEC on Wednesday night.
The sale represents almost 22 million shares of TSLA sold over the course of the last three trading days, at share prices between $156-$176. TSLA stock has fallen about 20 points in that time period, losing more than 10% of its value.
Yesterday Musk took to twitter to reassure Tesla shareholders that they would “benefit long term” from his twitter ownership. We now know that, at the time, he was currently in the process of offloading tens of millions of shares.
This is not the first time Musk has sold TSLA shares since he first announced his bid to take over Twitter. The first was last December after running a twitter poll about whether he should purchase the company or not, after which he claimed to have sold roughly enough of his stake in Tesla to fund the purchase.
But that’s not the only time he said he was done selling Tesla stock related to the twitter acquisition. In August, we reported on him selling $6.9 billion in stock, after which he explicitly said “Yes” when asked if he was “done selling.”
Today’s sale is Musk’s fourth major sale of Tesla stock related to the acquisition, now totaling about $16 billion worth. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, though he did gain additional funding in the form of loans from outside sources. Those loans have a total interest bill of about $1 billion yearly – a significant cost for a company that had heretofore lost on the order of $200 million per quarter, while it was publicly run.
While we don’t know about Twitter’s current financial situation as it is now private, available external signs point to trouble. There has been a drastic dropoff in advertising revenue, with advertisers pulling ads from the platform, and desktop visits to their ad manager software dropping by up to 85%.
Between additional costs for twitter and dropping revenue, Musk seems to have seen the necessity of freeing up more funding for his new company. While twitter’s new paid verification option may make up some of that revenue, it is unlikely to make a huge difference compared to the additional debt and loss of revenue that twitter is currently facing.
In the past, Musk had repeatedly stated that he would be the last person to sell Tesla stock.
Electrek’s Take
Yesterday’s message that Tesla shareholders would “benefit long term” from Musk’s twitter ownership led us to wonder: “but how?” In hindsight, it perhaps had something to do with preparing shareholders for today’s large stock sale announcement.
In the Electrek’s Take section for that article (which I encourage you all to read), Fred mentioned the echo chamber that Musk has created around himself, and that even the superfans allowed into that echo chamber are currently questioning whether Musk is fit to lead Tesla.
He certainly seems distracted, spending so much of his time on Twitter issues, and very little on Tesla issues. And now, more Tesla stock is being sold to “throw into the twitter dumpster fire,” as Fred so succinctly wrote. This puts downward pressure on Tesla stock, which makes it difficult to believe that the twitter takeover is helping TSLA shareholders or Tesla’s mission as a whole.
We here at Electrek are obviously interested in the electric vehicle revolution, as it is the one of the most significant ways that we can decarbonize society. As such, we support Tesla’s mission and think that the leading company in automotive electrification should have competent leadership paying attention to the needs of the company.
It is clear that this distraction is harming the company’s perception in the public eye, and we would like to see less distraction from Tesla leadership.
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The Hyundai IONIQ 5 got a raft of upgrades and sporty, rally-focused XRT trim level for 2025 – but the biggest upgrade for the Made in America Hyundai might be this: the 5 has regained eligibility for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit!
Despite being assembled at Hyundai’s Georgia meta plant for the last four month, the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 was nowhere to be found on the EPA’s list of rebate-eligible vehicles. But that was then – with a fresh updated to the list coming online May 1st, Hyundai’s new-age electric hot hatch is back in the rebate game.
As if to celebrate, Hyundai announced that it was taking on the celebrate One Lap of America road rayy and race event in a factory collaboration with the track-focused enthusiasts at Grassroots Motorsports this week with One Lap veterans Andy Hollis and Tom Suddard campaigning a stock, 601 hp 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N in the Alternative Fuels class.
“After winning our class in a gutted, caged race car last year, we wanted to compete in the best-of-all worlds this year: A vehicle that’s incredibly fast, incredibly comfortable on a road trip, and incredibly capable on a racetrack,” explains Suddard. “Electrification means it’s finally possible to have huge power without huge compromises in a street car, and the IONIQ 5 N promises to pair that huge power with the durability and capability to survive a week of racing.”
One Lap is widely regarded as one of the toughest street-legal motorsports events in the world, pitting amateur and professional drivers alike compete in stock and heavily modified vehicles of every description, battling it out in a series of scored challenges, including timed events at road courses, drag strips, skid pads, and autocross courses.
In between tracks, competitors safely travel thousands of miles around the country, proving the mettle and durability of the vehicles and the teams that drive them. This year, 86 teams from all over the country will compete in 17 scored events over the course of eight days at tracks like Virginia International Raceway and NCM Motorsports Park.
The Tire Rack One Lap of America is currently underway – you can track the Hyundai’s progress here, then let us know what you think of this new tax development in the comments.
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With the launch of the first-ever Class 8 vocational EV in the North American market, PACCAR Kenworth is raising the battery-electric bar and underscoring just how far the market has come since the Tesla Semi made its debut nearly a decade ago.
When Tesla pulled the wraps off its all electric Semi truck all the way back in November of 2017, the rest of the industry was hardly thinking about BEVs. Nearly a decade later, the world is still waiting for the Semi to begin regular production, and PACCAR is launching its second generation of HDEVs with the debut of this, the all-new Kenworth T880E vocational truck.
“The Kenworth T880E marks a groundbreaking milestone in Kenworth’s history as we bring to market the first Class 8 battery-electric solution built for vocational applications,” explains Kevin Haygood, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. “The T880E is engineered to meet the evolving needs of operators and vocational fleets while still providing the durability, reliability and customization our customers expect.”
The new electric K-whopper is motivated by PACCAR’s in-house ePowertrain platform, capable of putting up to 605 hp and 1,850 lb-ft of peak torque to work, while delivering the same levels of drivability and dependability fleets expect from a Kenworth – but power and torque are only part of the T880E’s work-ready résumé.
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Open to work
Kenworth T880E; via PACCAR.
In addition to a stout, Class 8 electric chassis fitted with heavy-duty Kenworth brakes and axles, the T880E’s central drive eMotor allows for significant wheelbase flexibility so fleet buyers can spec out exactly the machine they need to get the job done. The T880E was also designed to enable lift axle installations from trusted Kenworth upfitters for a vocational-friendly BEV integration.
Additionally, the T880E features a wide selection of factory-installed options that include both high- and low-voltage ePTO (electric Power Take Off) ports, mechanical ePTOs, and the same wide array of body configurations as the ICE version.
Speaking of the ICE version, the electric T880E also can also be had in the same set-back front axle and set-forward front axle configurations with the same multi-piece hood construction. Inside the cab, the latest in driver-focused technology includes the Kenworth SmartWheel and a new 15″ DriverConnect digital touchscreen. Dash and vocational features like RAM Mounts and factory-installed PTO switches are available. The T880E is also offered with Kenworth ADAS packages for customers interested in DigitalVision Mirrors, Bendix Fusion, and Lane Keeping Assist.
It’s so big, you guys
Kenworth T880E; photo by the author.
The T880E was on static display at last week’s ACT Expo in Anaheim, California. Check with your local Kenworth dealer for availability.
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The tire-blistering SU7 Ultra has been the Xiaomi brand’s flagship super sedan since its launch, but a controversial software setting has limited the car to “just” 900 hp in regular driving – resulting in an outcry from owners who ponied up for the big boy numbers. With its latest software update, that missing 648 hp is back on tap!
The SU7 Ultra made waves throughout the performance car world when a bright yellow striped example lined up alongside a white quarter mile king, the 1,000+ hp Tesla Model S Plaid, and promptly smoked it.
That wasn’t all. A preproduction SU7 Ultra prototype lapped the legendary Nürburgring circuit in just 6 minutes and 46.874 seconds, firmly stamping the 1,500+ hp Xiaomi’s alphanumeric into the track’s record books with a time nearly fifteen seconds quicker than a Rimac Nevera or, on the ICE front, either a Corvette ZR1, Viper ACR, or Porsche 918 (take your pick).
It’s hardly any wonder, then, that the customers who signed up – in droves, too – were disappointed to learn that the SU7 they were allowed to buy had been neutered by the safety nannies to the tune of nearly 650 hp. (!)
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We’re so back
The outrage from SU7 Ultra owners was immediate. And, facing mounting pressure online and on social media, Xiaomi ultimately decided to withdraw the performance-limiting features while acknowledging the need for more transparent communication about future software updates they messed up, saying in a statement, “we appreciate the passionate feedback from our community and will ensure better transparency moving forward.”
So, rich people can rocket themselves down the road in 9 second hypercars again and all is right with the world. A happy ending – but one that sort of illuminates a fresh set challenges for automakers peddling “software-defined vehicles” to a market that still thinks of their cars as very much hardware defined products.
The new reality is playing out in real time now, and the Jeff Bezos-backed $20,000 electric compact pickup from Slate Auto is going the other way entirely – time will tell whether more, or less tech is the answer.
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