Skip to main content

WORLD'S RICHEST MAN, ELON MUSK SELLS $1.1BILLION IN TESLA STOCK

  


Elon Musk sells $1.1 billion in Tesla stock for tax reasons

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, arrives at court during the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Del., in July. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold $1.1 billion worth of Tesla stock for tax reasons on Monday, according to company filings, following a Twitter poll he conducted over the weekend.

He 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.

The outspoken billionaire had turned to Twitter on Saturday, asking his followers in a poll if he should sell 10 percent of his shares in the electric vehicle company. The poll collected more than 3.5 million votes, and 58 percent supported a sale.


But the SEC filings note that the options he exercised were set to expire in 2022 and were part of a rule that sets a plan for insiders to trade their shares.

Generally, sales that are subject to that rule are preplanned, said Joshua Mitts, an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School.

“However, the criteria for triggering sales pursuant to a 10b5-1 plan can be complex, so we do not know what exactly the ‘trigger’ might have been here,” he noted in an email.

Musk phrased his Twitter 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.”

Musk’s stock options were priced at $6.24 each, totaling $13.4 million.

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission notes, “the shares of common stock were sold solely to satisfy the reporting person’s tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options to purchase 2,154,572 shares as reported herein.”

Musk over the weekend appeared to refer to discussions around a billionaire tax in the U.S. Senate, which would tax unrealized gains of a handful of the richest Americans before such assets are sold.

Musk said he does not take a cash salary or bonus, so “the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”

Musk is the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and is worth $299 billion.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

$100 MILLION STOLEN BY HACKERS IN CRYPTO HEIST

  Hackers steal nearly $100m in Japan crypto heist IMAGE SOURCE, Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m (£73m) estimated to have been stolen. Leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m (£73m) estimated to have been stolen.  The company announced that some of its digital currency wallets have been "compromised." It is the second major theft of cryptocurrencies to take place in recent days.                 Last week, digital token platform Poly Network was at the centre of a $600m heist. "WE ARE SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT #LIQUIDGLOBAL WARM WALLETS WERE COMPROMISED, WE ARE MOVING ASSETS INTO THE COLD WALLET," THE COMPANY SAID ON TWITTER. So-called 'warm' or 'hot' digital wallets are usually based online and designed to allow users to access their cryptocurrencies more easily, while 'cold' wallets are offline and harder to access and therefore usually more secure.                            

Countries Accepting Nigerians Seeking Second Citizenship

  Countries Accepting Nigerians Seeking Second Citizenship Nigerians are able to access the following citizenship and immigration programs: The Caribbean Second Citizenship Programs, Caribbean nations like St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and Grenada offer second citizenship through their respective Citizenship-by-Investment programs. A holder of one of these passports may travel visa free to about 135 countries, including all European Union countries, the UK, Russia, Turkey, Singapore and Hong Kong. Holding a citizenship from one of these respected countries may also make it easier to obtain residency status or study in other countries, and allows political security and makes it easier to open bank accounts in foreign jurisdictions. To qualify, an applicant needs to be of good reputation and make a government donation of at least $100,000 USD after approval of their citizenship application.  Approval of a Citizenship-by-Investment application normally takes about 3 months, and all de

AKURE OBASHIP: OBA AGUNSOYEBIOYINBO ADEMUAGUN ADESIDA 11 BROUGHT CLASS AND DIGNITY TO THE THRONE

      AKURE OBASHIP: OBA AGUNSOYEBIOYINBO ADEMUAGUN ADESIDA 11 BROUGHT CLASS AND DIGNITY TO THE THRONE                 By Sunday Ajibola There are men and there are men. Man gets to positions of power and authority and bring to bear their inner qualities. Position, as we have it here, is used to do all sorts of things; good and bad. But mostly and vexatiously, position blinds us as we use it to cheat and deny others their rights. Certain men understand that position is an opportunity to etch their names in gold and put such in the same of time.   It is exactly fifty years today that the 42nd Deji of Akure, late Oba Agunsoyebioyinbo Ademuagun Adesida 11 joined his ancestors. That fateful day was Sunday and in the evening; darkness was just enveloping the city. It was the strange shouts of "opo ye o, opo ye o, opo ye o", that prompted me to rush out of our house at Oke aro. I saw people running helter, skelter. I did not bother about them. I was looking for the "electric