Musk's Tesla stock sale dwarfs Twitter's losses

Elon Musk's canceled attempt to buy Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) could leave the world's richest man in a stronger financial position than before he announced the $44 billion deal, with billions of dollars in cash from selling Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares.

The two sides face a protracted legal battle that could cost billions of dollars, according to legal experts, after Elon Musk on Friday ripped up an April 25 deal to buy the social media platform and Twitter vowed to force Musk to settle. Whatever the outcome, for now, the Tesla CEO appears to be sitting on about $8.5 billion in cash he raised from selling shares of the automaker in late April to fund the Twitter acquisition. In the last week of April, Musk sold 9.6 million Tesla shares at an average price of $885 per share. "Musk is almost certainly in a better cash position now compared to a year ago because he sold so many Tesla shares, especially at such a high price," said Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid. "But depending on what the final outcome of the litigation in this matter will be, he could end up in a much worse position." Abuelsamid said that if Musk loses his legal battle against Twitter and is forced to complete the acquisition or pay a hefty fine, he may likely have to sell more Tesla shares, which could spook investors and hurt the value of the remaining Tesla shares. Tesla shares fell 6.5% on Monday. Musk tweeted that "no further TSLA sales are planned" following share sales in April. Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School, said he would not be surprised if Musk and Twitter eventually agree on more than $1 billion in damages for Twitter. "Musk will be poorer for his part, but he also won't have to own the company," Quinn said.