Musk's Twitter Antics Raise Worries About Distraction and Tesla Stock Sales

Tesla watchers are concerned about Musk attempting to clinch the transaction, maybe by selling even more of his Tesla stock, and then controlling yet another firm.

"Elon is preoccupied. He has a lot going on. He is active in a variety of projects, "Gene Munster, managing partner of Loup Ventures, a venture capital company that holds Tesla stock, said. "This will have a one to three month negative impact on Tesla's stock."

Tesla, the world's most valuable carmaker, has lost more than 9% of its value since Musk announced his more than 9% holding in Twitter on Monday. Tesla's shares dipped 3.7 percent on Thursday.

While Musk has discussed possible improvements he would want to see on Twitter, Tesla confronts its own obstacles, experts noted, including the need to ramp up production at new assembly factories in Berlin and Texas. Meanwhile, Tesla's Shanghai facility - the company's biggest - has been shut down because of China's COVID-19 crackdown.

"Musk is Tesla, and investors do not want Tesla to lose its leading position," Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin said.

And investors' suspicions are based on Musk's own remarks previous to this venture. He previously said that he worked seven days a week – "crazy hours" – dividing his time between Tesla and SpaceX last year. He is also the founder of Neuralink, a brain-chip firm, and the Boring Company, a tunneling enterprise.

Another source of concern is Musk's ability to fund a hypothetical Twitter acquisition, which would entail stock sales and hefty borrowing, experts said.

According to Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) analyst Colin Langan, Musk would need $39 billion to complete the acquisition, and the selling of further Tesla shares might further impact the price.

Tesla executives may pledge their business stock as collateral for loans, but the maximum loan amount is limited to 25% of the entire value of the pledged shares.

This implies he could borrow $42.5 billion by pledging all of his $170 billion-worth shares. However, according to a Tesla filing last year, Musk has previously committed nearly half of his Tesla shares as security to satisfy some personal liabilities.

Musk said on Thursday that he had the assets necessary to acquire Twitter, but did not elaborate.

The world's wealthiest person's fortune consists mostly of Tesla and SpaceX shares. Late last year, he sold almost $16 billion worth of Tesla stock, $11 billion of which he said will be paid in taxes.

"He is possibly exposing himself to a massive lawsuit down the line," said Howard Fischer, a partner at the law firm Moses & Singer and a former senior trial counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States.