Mark MossChief Bitcoin Strategist Satsuma | Partner BTCOppFund | ArchLending | BlockwareTeam | 100M+ YouTube

Why Elon Musk Sold Tesla Stock

27 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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0:55

In this YouTube monologue, Mark Moss explains how Elon Musk, lacking sufficient cash, attempted to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (now X) by leveraging his Tesla shares. Musk initially planned to borrow $12 billion against his Tesla stock, but due to rapid price movements in both Tesla and X and banking complications, he ultimately sold Tesla shares to raise the needed cash. The sale, combined with subsequent declines in Tesla’s share price, resulted in an estimated $20 billion loss for Musk, though X’s value later rose and Musk remains the world’s richest person.

Chapters

Elon Musk doesn't have a lot of cash. How does he buy Twitter for $44 billion? What he decided to do— so he wanted to buy Twitter, $44 billion, but he doesn't have $44 billion. But what he does have is he has Tesla stock. So what he decided to do is pull some liquidity out of his Tesla stock, $12 billion out, to buy Twitter, which is now X. Now, this was his plan. Unfortunately, it didn't go exactly as planned. So while he tried to do this, there was problems at the bank. I'm not gonna go into this. The price of Tesla stock was moving pretty rapidly. The price of X was moving pretty rapidly, and he decided at the last minute to, instead of pulling the $12 billion out against his stock, he actually now sold the stock to get the $12 billion that he needed. Well, he got X, and X has gone up a lot in value, and he's still the richest man in the world, so don't cry for him too much. But that deal right here has already cost him almost $20 billion.