Elon Musk has sold almost $5 billion in Tesla stock during a spate of transactions, CNBC first reported Wednesday evening.
Why it matters: The sale follows Musk's posting of an informal poll on Twitter Saturday, asking his followers whether he should sell about 10% of his shares in Tesla and after the company's stock fell 12% on Tuesday.
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
Do you support this?
- While Musk had tweeted that he would "abide by the results" of Saturday's poll on whether to sell about 10% of his shares, financial filings reveal that he knew some of his stock were for sale, per CNBC.
- He sold the stock in an effort to "satisfy tax obligations related to an exercise of stock options," according to CNBC.
The big picture: Bloomberg first reported on Tuesday that Musk had sold over $1.1 billion of Tesla stock.
- Subsequent financial filings to the SEC out Wednesday evening showed that his trust sold over 3.5 million shares valued at roughly $3.88 billion.
- "Those transactions were not marked as 10b5, meaning they were not scheduled sales," CNBC notes.
Of note: A company filing with the SEC shows that Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, dumped shares last Friday, Axios' Kate Marino notes.
- Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include details of Musk's later transactions.
