Elon Musk has sold another $3.6 billion worth of shares in electric car maker Tesla, bringing the total value of shares he has sold in the company this year to more than $20 billion.
Last month Musk revealed he’d sold 19.5 million shares of Tesla worth $3.95 billion, soon after completing a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform Twitter.
Investors have since worried that the deal has diverted his attention away from Tesla and his other companies.
Tesla has performed poorly on the Nasdaq index this year: its stock price has halved, underperforming other automakers and Nasdaq itself which is down 30%. At the end of last year Tesla was worth more than $1 trillion, but this year its market value has dropped below $500 billion for the first time since 2020.
Musk remains Tesla’s largest shareholder, with a 13.4% stake in the company, according to Refinitiv. Aside from concerns over Musk’s focus, investors are concerned over a number of factors potentially affecting Tesla going forward.
As a global recession looms, demand for expensive products like electric cars could slow. And rising borrowing costs could put off buyers further. There’s also increased competition in the industry, and traditional automakers are now catching up fast on Tesla.
The latest sale of Tesla shares comes in the same week that Musk was toppled from his position as the wealthiest person in the world. Frenchman Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury group LVMH, now holds the title. According to Bloomberg, Musk is now worth $161 billion, while Arnault, whose empire includes brands such as Dom Perginon and Louis Buitton, is worth $172 billion.