Elon Musk Sells $1.1Bln in Tesla Stock to Cover Tax Obligations
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has
sold $1.1 billion worth of shares to satisfy tax related obligations, following a Twitter poll on whether he should sell off
10 percent of his holdings to pay a proposed
“billionaire's tax,” setting off worries that such a sale could hurt Tesla's share price.
Musk turned to Twitter Saturday, and phrased his poll as a tax question, telling followers that “much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I
propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.”
According to a regulatory filing from the company late Wednesday, Musk made the sale as he exercised stock options the same day to acquire more than
2 million shares.
Those shares would have been valued at more than
$2.3 billion at the market’s close on Wednesday.
Tesla recovered 4.3 percent to
$1,067.95 in Wednesday’s trading session after shares dropped sharply over the Twitter poll.
