Tesla CEO Stock sold for $1.1 billion to cover US tax bill and upcoming options expiration. He polled his Twitter followers, but Musk knew that the sale was already planned because of tax obligations.
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According to financial filings, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold more than $1B worth of shares.
On Thursday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission received filings that confirmed the sale of over 934,000 Tesla shares valued at $1.1 billion.
Musk sold the shares for an average of $1,170. This lock in nearly 180% price gains over the past year. This is Musk’s third sale of company stock since Tesla went public in 2010 on the Nasdaq. It is also his largest transaction.
According to filings, Musk had planned to sell the stock in order to meet his September tax obligations. On the weekend, he polled his 63,000,000 followers to find out if he should sell 10%. Nearly 58% of the 3.5 million respondents said yes. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has not sold more than 1% of these shares and still owns over 170 million shares.
Unrealized gains are often cited as a way to avoid tax. Therefore, I propose that 10% of my Tesla stock be sold.
Are you in favor of this?
Elon Musk (@elonmusk), November 6, 2021
He responded to the poll by stating, “I don’t take any cash salary or bonus from anyone.” Stock is all I have, so the only way to pay taxes for me personally is to sell it.
In the days following the poll, Tesla stock (TSLA) slumped 16% to dip below $1,000 briefly on Wednesday. TSLA had hit an all-time high of $1,230 on Nov. 4, and it is currently around 11% down from that peak.
Related: Bitcoin dips below $67K as Tesla stock slump combines with Apple CEO denying crypto plans
There has been speculation — hopium, really — in crypto circles that he may put some of that cash into digital assets. Mr. Whale asked his 357,000 followers: “Which cryptocurrency should he buy to make himself the first-ever trillionaire?”
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor suggested he buy more Bitcoin (BTC) following the Twitter poll but before the news emerged about this sale:
“If the goal is diversification, an alternate strategy to consider is converting the $TSLA balance sheet to a Bitcoin Standard and purchasing $25 billion in $BTC. That would deliver diversification, inflation protection & more upside for all investors in a tax efficient manner.”
According to BitcoinTreasuries, Tesla currently holds 43,200 BTC worth an estimated $2.79 billion at current prices.
