Elon Musk sells $6.9 billion worth of Tesla stock

Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker and said it was important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock due to a legal showdown with Twitter Inc over a $44 billion takeover deal.

Musk, the world's richest person, had said in April that there were no more TSLA sales planned - after he sold $8.5 billion worth of shares in the company back in April.

But legal experts suggest that if Musk loses his battle against Twitter and has to pay a stiff penalty or complete the acquisition, he might have to sell more Tesla shares.

Musk is going to win a legal battle that could cost him billions of dollars, despite the fact that he has an April 25 agreement to buy the social media platform. The two sides will go to trial on October 17.

Between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9 there were 7.92 million shares sold by Musk, according to multiple filings. He has 155.04 million shares in Tesla.

The latest sales bring total stock sales by Musk to $32 billion in less than a year.