Financial filings released Wednesday show that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold a block of shares through a plan he initiated on September 14. This sale brings the total sales to over 930,000 shares, which is more than $1.1 billion. He still owns more than 170,000,000 shares.
Musk sold these shares partly to meet tax obligations arising from the exercise of stock options.
Elon Musk reached out to his 62.5 million followers on Twitter to ask them to vote in an informal poll before the sale plan was published. He told them that their votes would decide the future of Tesla's holdings. According to filings, Musk knew that some of his shares would be up for sale this week.
Tesla shares plunged 15% on Monday and Tuesday following the Twitter poll before recovering more than 4% Wednesday.
At Wednesday's DealBook Online Summit, Ken Griffin, Citadel CEO, stated that he did not want Musk to sell. "Individuals such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, have transformed our lives, and we want them to continue to control their companies as long as there's energy and ambition to move the business forward."
Musk previously indicated that he would likely sell "a large block" of his options during the fourth quarter. Musk stated that his marginal tax rate will be more than 50% when his stock options at Tesla expire in September during a speech at the Code Conference.
After Tesla's market cap surpassed $1 Trillion, former and current board members, including Robyn Denholm, Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk and Antonio Gracias, have sold hundreds of millions of shares worth Tesla shares to Ira Ehrenpreis, Antonio Gracias, and Ira Ehrenpreis, since Oct. 28, when Tesla's stock price soared to $1 Trillion.
Kimbal Musk's insider sale was the only one that wasn't listed as a 10b5, planned sale. Kimbal Musk sold $109 million worth shares, a day ahead his brother's Twitter poll.
This is still a developing story. Please check back often for new updates.
