Daimler sells its stake in Tesla – pockets £500 million

Mercedes’ parent company Daimler has sold its remaining 4 per cent stake in Tesla Motors and pocketed £500m ($780m). B-Class co-operation continues.

It’s more than five years since Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, took a 10 per cent stake in Tesla Motors as it sought a partnership that would yield EV dividends. But it’s yielded more than that.

When the deal was done in 2009, it was thought Daimler paid in the ‘double-digit’ millions for its stake of around 10 per cent, a stake that subsequently diminished to 4 per cent after 40 per cent of the original holding went to Aabar Investment in another joint project and Tesla’s listing on the stock exchange in 2010.

But that double-digit investment in 2009, despite ending up less than half the stake they started with, has turned in to a huge $780 million (£500m) windfall as Daimler decides to sell its stake in Tesla.

Daimler say the sale of its stake in Tesla in no way affects their working together, and that Daimler will continue to work with Tesla, and with the Mercedes B-Class ED just about to arrive in Europe – powered by Tesla – it seems likely that will be the case for some time to come.

Dr. Thomas Weber, Daimler Development man, said:

We have supported Tesla as a startup company for many years and have learned a lot from Tesla. At the same time, Tesla was able to profit from our automotive expertise. The cooperation with Tesla is one component of our activities in the field of electric mobility. It optimally complements our involvement in Deutsche ACCUmotive.

And making a shed-load of money in the process was the icing on the cake, no doubt.