By the end of March, Panasonic had reduced its stake in Tesla to zero, bringing in around 400 billion yen (3 billion euros), the Japanese announced on Friday in a message to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
A year earlier, the shares were only worth 81 billion yen at the end of March 2020 – the price of the car manufacturer has rallied in the meantime. The partnership with Tesla will continue, the company said. The companies jointly operate Tesla’s battery gigafactory in the US state of Nevada.
Panasonic had already announced that it would make itself more independent of Tesla and also want to consider other car manufacturers as customers. Tesla is now also using battery cells from other manufacturers. In addition, Panasonic can use the money from the sale of the shares, because the group wants to take over the US software manufacturer Blue Yonder, which specializes in supply chains, for $ 7.1 billion.
The Japanese business newspaper “Nikkei” had already reported on the sale of shares. Panasonic bought Tesla in 2010 for around $ 30 million. Tesla’s share price has increased more than eightfold since January 2020 alone. With a market value of $ 655 billion, the Californians are now the most valuable automaker in the world. Boss Elon Musk was able to show profits for seven quarters in a row.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210625-99-140125 / 2
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