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Longtime Tesla bull Chamath Palihapitiya said Wednesday he’s cashed out his stake in the electric-car company in favor of new investment opportunities.
Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference, Palihapitiya, the founder and chief executive of Social Capital, said he sold his Tesla stake “in the last year or so,” as the stock’s price surged to all-time highs.
Palihapitiya said he’s still bullish on Tesla’s future, but the selling opportunity was too good to pass up. “I don’t have an infinite pool of capital. So when I have these ideas, the money has to come from somewhere,” he said.
Last year, Tesla shares
TSLA,
soared more than 740%, and topped out near $900 this past January. While the stock has calmed down in 2021 — up only 11% — it’s still up 82% over the past 12 months. Tesla ended Wednesday at $781.31.
Palihapitiya, who in 2017 said short-sellers were completely underestimating Tesla’s business, said Wednesday that even he underestimated the electric-vehicle market, predicting that Tesla “will be very busy” in the future.
Palihapitiya has been busy himself, leading the recent SPAC charge. In June, he filed for four more special-purpose acquisition companies, focused on biotech companies.
