Elon Musk selling Tesla shares following Twitter user poll

Elon Musk has let Twitter users vote on whether he should sell a tenth of his shares in Tesla for higher tax payments. A majority is in favour. Musk wants to abide by the vote – but he has not given a time frame for the sale.

++ This article has been updated. Kindly continue reading below. ++

“Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock,” Musk said on Saturday, adding that he does not take cash salary or bonus “from anywhere” and only has stock.

According to Reuters calculations, as of 30 June, Musk’s shareholding in Tesla came to roughly 170.5 million shares. Selling 10% of these will amount to close to $21 billion. With capital like that, who needs a cash salary or bonus?

Update 11 November 2021

Following his Twitter vote at the weekend, Elon Musk has indeed monetised a number of his Tesla shares for the first time in years. Musk sold papers worth a total of around five billion dollars.

The 4.5 million shares represent only three per cent of Musk’s total Tesla shares. He still holds more than 170 million shares. The latest sale may or may not just be the beginning. It looks like the multi-billionaire will now be paying taxes.

Update 18 November 2021

The Tesla CEO continues selling his Tesla stock, with the latest count standing at 8.16 million shares traded for 8.8 billion dollars since announcing the move on 8 November.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk sold more than 934,000 shares Tuesday, for roughly $973 million, following Monday’s $930 million stock sale.

MarketWatch has also been keeping track, assuming Musk intends to sell 10% of his shares; he’s nearly halfway there. Before the sales began, his 10% stake amounted to about 17 million shares, so after Tuesday’s deals, he would have about 8.84 million shares to go, the magazine reports.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan is suing Tesla for 162 million dollars. The background is a tweet by Elon Musk from 2018 with the announcement to take Tesla off the stock exchange for 420 dollars per share. It had sent the market in disarray, briefly, but was intended to curb speculations, so Musk at the time.

twitter.com, electrek.co, reuters.com (update 11 Nov ’21), marketwatch.com, reuters.com(updates 18 Nov ’21)