Elon Musk to buy more shares as his grip on Tesla continues to loosen

It must have been a very unpleasant experience for Elon Musk to step down as chairman of Tesla (TSLA) after he earned regulators’ wrath for issuing misleading statements to shareholders. Though the veracity of his controversial comment on taking the company private is widely questioned since then, there is no doubt the billionaire businessman always wanted to take a bigger piece of the Tesla pie.

Tesla’s stock suffered a modest decline Wednesday after Musk in a statement announced plans to hike his stake in the company by purchasing $20 million of its stock. The revelation was made through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission since the maverick CEO is not a free bird any more when it comes to using Twitter for official announcements.

The announcement came a day after the SEC ratified Musk’s $20-milion settlement in connection with the agency’s recent finding that his claims of having secured the necessary funding for taking Tesla private were false.  Musk, who currently holds a $9 billion stake in the company, will be buying the shares in the next open trading window, after hiking his stake on multiple occasions earlier this year.

Tesla’s stock suffered a modest decline Wednesday after Musk in a statement announced plans to hike his stake in the company

In a separate development, sources close to the electric car company Wednesday revealed that Gilbert Passin, who served as vice-president of manufacturing, had stepped down a few months ago, ending his nine-month stint with Tesla.

Last month, the company promoted Jerome Guillen to the post of President of Automotive amid the deepening talent deficit, owing to the back-to-back departure of top executives in recent months. Several engineers left the company to join Apple (APPL), which is busy perfecting its autonomous transport technology.

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Despite the multiple challenges, including manufacturing issues, controversies triggered by Musk’s outlandish behavior and volatile stock movement, Tesla reportedly managed to meet its Model 3 production goals for the third quarter.

Tesla shares witnessed intense volatility in the last three months, after retreating from the peak they reached in June. The stock, which dropped about 15% since January this year, lost 2% during the final hours of Wednesday’s regular session.

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