Ankit Banerjee, Toronto, November 17, 2021
Elon Musk has sold 8.2 million shares of Tesla stock worth close to $9 billion as of this morning. He initially sold shares worth around $3 billion to cover his taxes this year. So why, since then, has he sold another $6 billion worth in shares?
Musk set the Twitter-verse on fire last week with a poll asking if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock and pay taxes. With more than three million votes and close to 60% voting yes, Musk started selling Tesla stock. It didn’t take long for internet sleuths to figure out it wasn’t exactly public pressure that led to this decision though. Despite posting his poll as a question about “unrealized gains” in early November, stock filings showed that some transactions where arranged as early as mid-September. The reason was that Musk had to exercise stock options that were close to expiring. If he didn’t, he would lose them. But now that he has cashed them in, he’s looking at a huge tax bill.
Going back to the original question, most Tesla and Musk fans believe that it’s because he’s sticking to his promise of shedding 10% of his Tesla stock, based on the poll. To meet that target, Musk would need to sell a total of 17 million shares, almost double what he’s sold so far. However, Twitter antics aside, the real reason isn’t that simple. Musk has more stock options expiring in a few months that he will need to sell, and that will leave him with a massive $11 billion to $16 billion tax bill next year.
US-Elon-Musk-Stock-Sales@
Update:UPDATES: With AP Photos.@
INDEX: Business, International@
Musk sells more shares than he needs to pay current tax bill@
By Tom Krisher@
DETROIT – Elon Musk is selling more Tesla shares than he needs to
pay current tax obligations. Experts say he’s either converting part
of his fortune from stock to cash, or he’s saving for bigger tax
bills due next year. As of early Wednesday, Musk had sold roughly
8.2 million shares in the electric car maker, worth a total of just
over $8.8 billion. Of those, Musk sold 2.8 million shares worth
about $3 billion specifically to pay taxes on three stock options
that he exercised this week. That means he has sold roughly $5
billion more in shares than he needs at present. But under a 2012
compensation, Musk has options to buy 26.4 million shares. The $10
billion to $15 billion tax bill on those comes due next year.
(The Associated Press)
14:57ET 17-11-21
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