“As a public company, we are subject to wild swings in our stock price that can be a major distraction for everyone working at Tesla, all of whom are shareholders," Musk said in a statement to Tesla employees that was released by the company.

The announcement came after a chaotic few hours in which a report that a Saudi investment fund had taken a stake in the company sent shares soaring. That news was overtaken when Musk took to Twitter with a terse message that he had “funding secured” for a possible move to put Tesla into private hands.

With still no official word, however, investors were left to puzzle out the implications and even the authenticity of the tweets. At 2:08 p.m. Eastern time, with shares up more than 7 percent, trading was halted pending news. It finally came shortly before 3:30.

“I fundamentally believe that we are at our best when everyone is focused on executing, when we can remain focused on our long-term mission, and when there are not perverse incentives for people to try to harm what we’re all trying to achieve,” the statement said.

Musk said that no final decision had yet been made about taking the company private.

He outlined a plan under which shareholders could be bought out for $420 a share — a 20 percent premium over the stock price after the company’s second-quarter earnings call last week — or they could remain as private shareholders.

Tesla trading resumed 15 minutes before the end of the trading session, and the shares added to their gains, closing at $379.57, up 11 percent.

Musk did not elaborate on any sources of financing to take Tesla private.

Going private “would definitely benefit Elon Musk and the way he’d like to run the company,” said Efraim Levy, an analyst at CFRA Research. “It’s clear he doesn’t like the intrusion he gets as a public company.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Neal E. Boudette © 2018 The New York Times