Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold about $5 BILLION of Tesla stock after Twitter poll

OHMYGOSSIP – Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold about $5 billion in shares of his electric carmaker, filings showed late Wednesday, just days after he asked Twitter users about selling his 10% stake. In his first share sale since 2016, Musk’s trust sold nearly 3.6 million shares in Tesla, worth around $4 billion, while he also sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares.

The 4.5 million shares equate to about 3% of his total holdings in the electric vehicle manufacturer, which makes up the vast part of his fortune.

Musk on Saturday polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake, helping to push down Tesla’s share price after a majority on Twitter said they agreed with the sale.

The stock sank 12% on Tuesday in a multi-day selloff that endangered the company’s position in the $1 trillion club but recovered 4.3% on Wednesday.

The options-related sales were set up in September through a trading plan that allows corporate insiders to establish preplanned transactions on a schedule, the filing said. The sales of the option-related shares are paid for associated taxes. It was not clear how or whether the trading plan related to Musk’s Twitter poll. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The additional share sales were separate and provided Musk with sizeable cash reserves, given his wealth is largely tied to his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk has more than 20 million further stock options that will expire in August of next year.

After the transactions, Musk still owns about 167 million Tesla shares. Musk was Tesla’s largest shareholder as of June, owning about 17% of the company, according to data provider FactSet. He’s the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of around $282 billion, most of it in Tesla stock.

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