Blog Panasonic Sells Tesla Stake for $3.6B

Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla worth about $3.61 billion.

Panasonic bought 1.4 million Tesla shares at $21.15 each in 2010, for about 2.4 billion yen ($21.65 million). The stock is now worth $679.82 apiece, making for an incredible profit. Reuters reported the news, citing a spokesperson for Panasonic, an important supplier of batteries for Tesla.

The report said the stock sale will not affect the partnership with Tesla. The two companies have been partners in producing batteries at Gigafactory Nevada since 2014. 

In addition to Panasonic, Tesla has deals with LG and CATL to supply batteries for its cars. As Tesla’s product line grows along with demand for electric vehicles, the company will likely seek to expand the relationships. 

According to Bloomberg, Panasonic is working to set up a prototype production line to test the better-performing, next-generation 4680 batteries. If the test is successful, Panasonic will make a “large investment” in production with the intent to supply them to Tesla.

 

[Moonlight]

This is confusing, can you give us the numbers in USD? Or yen? Mixing the numbers makes us all have to pull out our calculators in order to truly understand the magnitude of their gain. Thanks!

 

[dazedNconfuzed]

Panasonic made a 166x profit. Heck yeah they’re gonna cash out when stock prices stabilized.

 

[SageBrush]

I'm unclear about the timing. When were these shares sold ?

 

[SageBrush]

This is confusing, can you give us the numbers in USD? Or yen? Mixing the numbers makes us all have to pull out our calculators in order to truly understand the magnitude of their gain. Thanks!

Stock basis after accounting for 1:5 spit is ~ $4
I'm not sure when these stocks sold, but this year the stock price has been in the $600 -- 900 range

 

[Yinn]

Something isn't right...

"Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla worth about $3.61 billion."

"Panasonic bought 1.4 million Tesla shares at $21.15 each in 2010, for about 2.4 billion yen ($21.65 million)"

1.4M Shares x $21.15 = $29.61 Million..close enough.

Tesla 5 for 1 split: 1.4 x 5 = 7 Million Shares total held by Panasonic.

"Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla worth about $3.61 billion."
"The stock is now worth $679.82 apiece"

7M Shares * $679.82 = $4.76B.

Why is this important? Because I don't blame Panasonic for cashing in. But I do think there's a big difference between harvesting some gains reducing risk in the portfolio and liquidating the entire position.

If they only sold about $3.61B and assuming all the other numbers are right, then they either sold previously or still hold $1.15B of Tesla, which is still a significant amount (ie, believes in Tesla)

 

[gnomee2]

Something isn't right...

"Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla worth about $3.61 billion."

"Panasonic bought 1.4 million Tesla shares at $21.15 each in 2010, for about 2.4 billion yen ($21.65 million)"

1.4M Shares x $21.15 = $29.61 Million..close enough.

Tesla 5 for 1 split: 1.4 x 5 = 7 Million Shares total held by Panasonic.

"Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla worth about $3.61 billion."
"The stock is now worth $679.82 apiece"

7M Shares * $679.82 = $4.76B.

Why is this important? Because I don't blame Panasonic for cashing in. But I do think there's a big difference between harvesting some gains reducing risk in the portfolio and liquidating the entire position.

If they only sold about $3.61B and assuming all the other numbers are right, then they either sold previously or still hold $1.15B of Tesla, which is still a significant amount (ie, believes in Tesla)

Exactly what I was thinking.

Although I do not think it is a guarantee they are losing confidence if they sold all. Taxes, cash flow, many reason's why this may be a good time for them to sell but knowing they still have a solid stake sure feels better.

 

[Moonlight]

One possibility that comes to mind, maybe they wanted cash to build more factory capacity of their own. By now they must be blown away by the size of the market on the horizon.