Musk cashes out another $3.6 b in Tesla stock

Tesla boss Elon Musk has disclosed another $3.6b in stock sales, taking his total near $40b this year and frustrating investors as the company's shares wallow at two-year lows.

A US securities filing showed he unloaded 22m shares in the world's most valuable carmaker over three days from Monday to Wednesday.

The sale was the second big chunk of stock he cashed out since his $44b purchase of Twitter in October.

It was not clear if the sales were related to the Twitter acquisition, but they were annoying investors upset by a perception he was diverting his focus and resources to Twitter ahead of Tesla.

"It doesn't put a lot of confidence in the business, or speak volumes for where his attention is at," said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at brokerage IG Markets, where Tesla is a popular stock among small-time investors.

"It's not a good situation. I've spoken to a lot of investors who have Tesla shares and they're absolutely furious at Elon."

There was no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment from Tesla and from Musk emailed outside business hours.

There was no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment from Tesla and from Musk emailed outside business hours.

Musk's 13.4 percent stake in Tesla was down from about 17 percent a year ago, according to Refinitiv data.

Tesla's stock price halved this year, underperforming both automakers and the broader tech-heavy Nasdaq , which was down about 30 percent this year. The value of Musk's total selling over the past year came to nearly $40b.

"It will start to be tiring for investors," said Tareck Horchani, head of a prime brokerage dealing at Maybank Securities in Singapore.