'SPAC King' Palihapitiya, Who Once Warned Against Selling Tesla Stock, Has Exited Position In EV Maker

Longtime Tesla Inc. TSLA bull, and "SPAC king," Chamath Palihapitiya said he has sold all his holdings in the electric vehicle maker to fund other investment ideas.

What Happened: “I don’t have an infinite pool of capital. So when I have these ideas, the money has to come from somewhere,” Palihapitiya said Wednesday at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference.

The billionaire investor added he exited his position in the Elon Musk-led company “in the last year or so," but remains bullish on Tesla.

See Also: Tesla Reports Q3 Deliveries This Week: What To Expect

Why It Matters: Palihapitiya’s disclosure of his Tesla stake sale is in sharp contrast to his earlier comments in January where he suggested it was not a good idea to sell the company’s stock as it could double or triple in value.

The former Facebook Inc. FB executive has been vocal about Tesla becoming a trillion-dollar company on the scale of Apple Inc. AAPL and made a large investment in the Palo Alto-based company in 2016.

Tesla’s shares rallied through much of 2020 and touched a 52-week high of $900.40 in late January this year amid strong demand for electric vehicles.

The stock has pared gains since February and its year-to-date gains now stand at only 10.7%.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed almost 0.5% higher in Wednesday’s regular trading session at $781.31, but declined 0.1% in the after-hours session to $780.47.

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