Financial Services

Tesla shares pop on plan to raise $2 billion from investors, including CEO Elon Musk


GP: Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an event at the site of the company’s manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tesla said in a filing on Thursday that it would raise up to $2 billion, with $650 million coming in the form of new equity and $1.35 billion in convertible notes.

CEO Elon Musk signaled the intent to buy about $10 million of the company’s stock in the new offering. The total equity offering is for 2.7 million shares of Tesla. Musk’s purchase would be 41,896 shares.

The move comes only a week after Musk deferred on questions about the company raising capital any time soon.

“I don’t think raising capital should be a substitute for making the company operate more effectively,” Musk told shareholders on the company’s quarterly conference call. “I do think there is some merit to raising capital, but is sort of probably about the wrong timing.”

Tesla shares fell earlier in premarket trading when the company put out an initial filing indicating it would be offering a mix of debt and equity securities. The stock then reversed course and was last trading 5.7% higher when a second filing revealed details of the offering, including Musk’s interest in buying a block of the new shares.

Musk’s purchases have been reliable short-term buy signals for the stock in the past, according to InsiderScore.com. Following the last 5 purchases by Musk, the shares were higher on average by 41% in the next three months, according to InsiderScore.

Shares of the controversial electric automaker have been under pressure lately, down nearly 30% from the beginning of the year.

The offering is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale and Wells Fargo.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.



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