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Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A Security and Exchange Commission financial report filed late Wednesday showed that Tesla founder Elon Musk sold about 22 million more shares of his auto business, worth about $3.6 billion as he continues to tinker with his new acquisition in social media giant Twitter. Wednesday's total brings Musk's selloff of Tesla so far this year to 94,202,321 shares for approximately $22.93 billion, according to VerityData.
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In November, Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla stock after finalizing his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. In that exchange, he sold 19.5 million shares.
Ben Silverman, director of research for VerityData, told CNBC that shareholders should ignore what the billionaire says on social media after Musk commented in April that he had no share sales planned.
"Musk's prior sales going back to November 2021 were expertly timed, so Tesla shareholders need to pay attention to Musk's actions and not his words -- or lack thereof when it comes to his recent selling."
The stock sale comes as Musk fell from the No. 1 spot of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a position he held since September 2021. Tesla, meanwhile, had fallen below the half-trillion mark since November 2020.
Tesla stock fell 2.5% in pre-market trading on Thursday on the news of Musk's selloff.
