Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, sold roughly $5 billion in Tesla stock, according to financial documents released Wednesday evening. He still owns upwards of 166 million shares.
In a frenzy of deals on Tuesday and Wednesday, his trust sold almost 3.5 million shares valued at over $3.88 billion. Those trades were not identified as 10b5, indicating that they were not planned sales.
According to the documents, Musk intended to sell the shares as part of his tax obligations in September. He surveyed his 63 million followers over the weekend, asking if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock. Almost 58 percent of the 3.5 million responders replied yes. However, the Tesla CEO traded less than 1% of his stock in this transaction and still owns more than 170 million units.
Before that selling proposal became public, Musk encouraged his 62.5 million followers on Twitter to vote in an informal poll, assuring them that their decision will influence the destiny of his Tesla assets. According to the documents, he was aware that some of his stocks were scheduled for sale week.
In answer to the survey, he stated, “I take no cash compensation or bonus from anyone.” Because I only own stock, the only method for me to pay taxes is to sell shares.”
Tesla shares fell 16 percent in the following days of the poll, momentarily falling below $1,000 on November 10. TSLA set an all-time high of $1,230 on November 4 and is down at the moment roughly 11% from that high.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin stated on Wednesday just at DealBook Online Summit that he genuinely does not want Musk to sell.
People like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have altered life, and we want to keep them in charge of their company as long since they have the energy and ambition to keep taking the company ahead.
Musk previously stated that he planned to sell “a significant block” of his options in the 4th quarter. Musk stated at the Code Conference in September that when his Tesla share options expire, his marginal rate will be more than 50%.
Following the Twitter vote and before the news of this sale broke, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor advised he acquire more Bitcoin:
“If diversifying is desired, an alternative plan to explore is transforming the $TSLA balance sheet to a Bitcoin Standard and buying $25 billion in $BTC.” That would provide diversification, inflationary insurance, and more potential for all investors while remaining tax effective.”