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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An Exxon gas station is seen in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Oct. 6, 2023.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Exxon Mobil beat third-quarter earnings expectations, as the oil major reached its highest liquids production level in more than four decades.
Here is what Exxon reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: $1.92 adjusted, vs. $1.88 per share expected.
Revenues: $90 billion, vs. $93.94 billion expected
The oil major booked net income of $8.61 billion in the quarter, or $1.92 per share, down about 5% compared to $9.1 billion, or $2.25 per share, in the year-ago period. Exxon’s profits have declined as refining margins and natural gas prices have pulled back from from historically high levels in 2023.
The company returned $9.8 billion to shareholders in the quarter and increased its fourth-quarter dividend to $0.99 per share.
Exxon said it has reached its high production level in more than 40 years at 3.2 million barrels per day.
The oil major’s stock rose about 1% in pre-market trading. Exxon shares have gained 16.8% this year.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Chevron beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, returning a record amount of cash to shareholders.
Shares were up 2.6% in the premarket following the report’s release.
The oil major’s quarterly profit, however, declined substantially compared to the year-ago period due to lower margins on refined product sales, lower prices and the absence of favorable tax times.
Chevron is aiming to streamline its portfolio, with asset sales in Canada, Congo and Alaska expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company is also target $2 billion to $3 billion in cost reductions from 2024 through the end of 2026.
Here is what Chevron reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: $2.51 adjusted, vs. $2.43 expected
Revenue: $50.67 billion, vs. $48.99 billion expected
Chevron’s net income came in at $4.49 billion, or $2.48 per share, down 31% from $6.53 billion, or $3.48 per share, in the third quarter of 2023. When adjusted for foreign currency impacts, the company reported earnings of $2.51 per share, solidly topping Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter.
Chevron booked revenues of $50.67 billion, also beating Street expectations but declining 6% from the $54.1 billion reported in the third quarter last year.
The oil major returned a record $7.7 billion to shareholders in the quarter, including $4.7 billion in share buybacks and $2.9 billion in dividends.
Chevron produced 3.36 million oil-equivalent barrels per day in the quarter, a 7% increase over the third quarter of 2023, driven by record output in the Permian Basin.
Chevron’s stock is largely flat for the year, underperforming the S&P 500 energy sector which has gained more than 6%. Shares have struggled to gain ground as uncertainty looms over the company’s pending $53 billion acquisition of Hess.
The Federal Trade Commission has cleared the deal, though it prohibited John Hess from joining Chevron’s board.
Chevron remains locked in a dispute with Exxon Mobil, which is claiming a right of first refusal over Hess Corp.’s lucrative oil assets in Guyana. If an arbitration court rules in Exxon’s favor, Chevron’s acquisition of Hess would fail to close.
ZEEKR EV cars are displayed at the 45th Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok, Thailand, March 25, 2024.
Chalinee Thirasupa | Reuters
Chinese electric carmaker Zeekr said Thursday its deliveries surged by 92% in October from a year ago, helping the company clock its best month at 25,049 vehicles.
The company has reportedlysaid that it expects to deliver 230,000 cars in 2024. With only two months left in the calendar year, that means Zeekr needs to deliver more than 31,000 cars in November and December each.
The Geely-backed automaker began deliveries of its new five-seat SUV Zeekr Mix on Oct. 23.
Xpeng also beat its personal best for a second straight month, delivering 23,917 vehicles in October. The deliveries included the company’s mass-market car, Mona M03, accounting for over 10,000 units.
Xpeng launched Mona M03 in late August with prices starting at $16,812.
Li Auto, whose cars mostly come with a fuel tank to extend the battery’s driving range, delivered 51,443 cars, slightly lower than its record month in September.
BYD and Aito had not yet released their October deliveries as of Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the week, Chinese smartphone and home appliance company Xiaomi said it delivered more than 20,000 electric vehicles in October.
The company only launched its first car — the SU7 — in late March.
Xiaomi aims to deliver 100,000 electric cars by the end of November. The company has delivered more than 75,000 cars as of October.