Musk sells Tesla shares worth $3.95bn

Tesla boss Elon Musk has sold $3.95 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker_ according to US regulatory filings_ days after taking over Twitter for $44 billion.

Musk_ whose net worth dropped below $200 billion after investors dumped Tesla stock_ unloaded 19.5 million shares between Friday and Tuesday_ filings published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

The latest share sale leaves Musk with a stake of roughly 14 per cent in the EV maker company.

The purpose of the sale has not been disclosed yet.

The latest sale dump comes as analysts had widely expected Elon Musk to sell additional Tesla shares to finance the Twitter deal.

Musk_ the world's wealthiest man_ had asserted in April he was done selling Tesla stock. Still_ he went on to sell another $6.9 billion worth Tesla shares in August and said the sale was conducted to pay for the social media platform.

Musk_ the world's richest man_ had about $20 billion in cash after selling a part of his stake in Tesla_ including the sales made last year. This would have required him to raise an additional $2 billion to $3 billion to finance the takeover.

Tesla has lost nearly half its market value and Musk's net worth slumped by $70 billion ever since he bid for Twitter in April.

Musk took over Twitter last month and has engaged in drastic measures including sacking half the staff and a plan to charge for blue check verification marks.

The billionaire pledged to provide $46.5 billion in equity and debt financing for the acquisition_ which covered the $44 billion price tag and the closing costs. Banks_ including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp_ committed to provide $13 billion in debt financing.

Musk's $33.5 billion equity commitment included his 9.6% Twitter stake_ which is worth $4 billion_ and the $7.1 billion he had secured from equity investors_ including Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Musk had tried to walk away from the deal in May_ alleging that Twitter understated the number of bot and spam accounts on the platform. This led to a series of lawsuits between the two parties.