Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Elon Musk Bought Some Stock

Musk trade

On Friday, Elon Musk spent about $1 billion to buy 2.57 million shares of stock in Tesla Inc., bringing his ownership of Tesla from 19.71% to 19.78%. The purchases were disclosed today, and the stock went up: The stock closed at $395.94 per share on Friday, and at noon today it was trading at about $419.54. Why did the stock go up? Bloomberg’s Craig Trudell and Benjamin Stupples write:

The purchase amounts to a show of confidence in Tesla’s prospects after a challenging first half of the year in which vehicle sales slumped 13% worldwide. While Musk has talked up Tesla’s ...