On Saturday, November 6, Elon Musk logged onto his Twitter account and appeared to put a multibillion-dollar financial decision into the hands of millions of online voters. Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this? he asked his followers. I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes. Almost 58% of respondents voted in favor of the sale.<\/p>\n
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold nearly $9 billion worth of stock over the course of two wild weeks. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski \/ AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
True to his word, the electric car billionaire began parting with shares just a few days later. Two weeks in, Musk has sold roughly 8.2 million shares, worth about $8.8 billionputting billions of dollars into the famously cash-poor billionaires pockets, even after he used about $3 billion of the proceeds to pay taxes due fromexercising some of his stock options. The sales represent 3.2% of Musks Tesla stake, meaning he still has 11.6 million sharesworth about $13.2 billion as of Fridays market closeleft to sell if he plans on hitting the 10% goal he set for himself on Twitter. <\/p>\n
Although Musk has sold 3.2% of his Tesla stock so far, his share count is only down by 1.2% because hes been acquiring new stock at the same time he's been selling shares on the market. He has exercised options to buy 6.4 million shares at $6.24 apiece, and has sold about half of them to cover the tax bill due from exercising the stock. Musk still has 19.1 million more options, currently worth $21.6 billion, to exercise before they expire in August 2022, so he will likely be doing a lot more deals in the weeks or months to come.<\/p>\n
Prior to this selling bonanza, Musk has dumped Tesla shares on only two occasions. In 2010, he sold roughly 1.4 million shares for $24 million shortly after Tesla went public, and in 2016, he unloaded 2.7 million shares for some $593 million, which he used to cover taxes he owed for exercising some of his Tesla options.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Musks estimated net worth settled at $296.2 billion after Tesla shares jumped 3.7%, adding about $9.5 billion to his fortune in a single day. His net worth has ping-ponged recently, soaring above a previously unheard of $300 billion earlier this month before dropping by more than $50 billion after shares slid following Musks announcement that he would sell stock. Musk nonetheless remains the richest person in modern history, well ahead of Jeff Bezos (who is worth $221.9 billion), French fashion mogul Bernard Arnault ($201.1 billion) and Bill Gates ($139.1 billion).<\/p>\n
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Two Weeks After Twitter Poll, Elon Musk Has Unloaded Billions In Tesla Stock - Forbes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Saturday, November 6, Elon Musk logged onto his Twitter account and appeared to put a multibillion-dollar financial decision into the hands of millions of online voters. Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock Continue reading