Tesla Sold $936M Worth of Bitcoin in Second Quarter

Electric car maker Tesla (TSLA) sold $936 million worth of bitcoin, or 75% of its holdings, in the second quarter, the company reported Wednesday in its earnings report.

• The company ended the second quarter with just $218 million in bitcoin, down from $1.26 billion in the previous three quarters.
• The company held about 42,000 bitcoin heading into the quarter, so if it sold 75% of that amount for $936 million, that would equate to an average selling price of about $29,000 per bitcoin. Bitcoin ended the second quarter of about $18,700, meaning Tesla avoided a substantial impairment charge on its holdings by selling earlier in the quarter.
• The price of bitcoin fell about 1.7% to $23,300 following the news.
• Tesla announced last February it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, a move that caused the price of bitcoin to surge. Later in Q1, the company trimmed its bitcoin position by 10%, a sale that boosted that quarter’s earnings by $272 million. It had not bought or sold any more of its holdings until the most recent announcement.
• A company call with analysts is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET (21:30 UTC).

This is a developing story and will be updated.

UPDATE (July 20, 20:32 UTC): Updated with information about Tesla's average selling price in the second bullet point.