Tesla sinks 5% after Elon Musk threatens to sell more stock in Twitter spat with Bernie Sanders

Tesla CEO Elon Musk points a finger upward while wearing a black bandana around his neck — Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Germany on Friday.
Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters

Tesla fell as much as 4% on Monday after Elon Musk threatened to sell more shares in response to a tweet from Senator Bernie Sanders.
"Want me to sell more stock Bernie? Just say the word," Musk tweeted to Senator Bernie Sanders
Musk has sold billions of Tesla stock since he launched a Twitter poll earlier this month asking his followers if he should sell.

Tesla stock fell as much as 5% on Monday after CEO Elon Musk threatened to sell more shares in a tweet response to Senator Bernie Sanders.

"Want me to sell more stock Bernie? Just say the word," Musk tweeted to Sanders in response to a tweet from the senator that advocated the "extremely wealth pay their fair share."

Musk has already sold billions worth of Tesla stock since he asked his followers in a Twitter poll if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stake. More than 3 million Twitter users participating in the poll, with a decisive majority voting for Musk to sell some of his Tesla stock.

Since the poll, Musk has sold about $7 billion of the stock. Musk is facing a multi-billion-dollar tax bill next year when about 23 million of his fully vested, deep in-the-money stock options expire in August.

While many speculate Musk needs to sell Tesla stock to raise funds for his upcoming tax bill, famed short-seller Michael Burry believes the richest man in the world is selling just because.

"He [Musk] doesn't need cash. He just wants to sell $TSLA," Burry tweeted, implying that Musk wants to realize profits in what's been a remarkable run-up in Tesla shares. Burry has previously said Tesla is emblematic of a massive asset bubble in risk-assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Since Musk launched the Twitter poll, shares of Tesla have fallen by as much as 20%. Still, the stock is up 39% year-to-date at current levels.