Elon Musk Sells Additional $931 Million of Tesla Stock The Tesla CEO could receive a federal tax bill for nearly $10 billion.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk continued to sell shares of his company's stock.
Selling an additional $931 million worth of stock brings the billionaire's total stock sales over the past six trading days to $7.8 billion, CNN reports, with some shares sold every day during that period.
The recent Tesla-stock sales are part of a plan Musk set in motion two months ago, and he intends to exercise an even larger block of stock options before they expire in August 2022.
On November 6 and 7, Musk conducted a Twitter poll in which he asked followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla holdings in order to raise his taxable income, and 58% of respondents said yes. But the filings reveal that Musk's shares were already scheduled for sale that week.
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Musk exercised 2.2 million options and sold 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion on Monday, November 8, then made a nearly identical transcation on Monday, November 15, exercising 2.1 million options and selling another 934,000 shares.
The more recent transaction garnered $931 million as opposed to last Monday's $1.1 billion because the price of Tesla stock has fallen in the past week, in part due to the quantity of sales executed.
When the options are exercised, the net value of the stock will be taxed at a federal take rate of 40.8%, meaning Musk could receive a federal tax bill for nearly $10 billion when he's finished.
The other sales Musk made over the course of the past week came from the Tesla shares he already held outright, most of which he'd owned since the company's initial public offering in 2010, and they will only be taxed as a long-term capital gain at a 20% tax rate.
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Musk still holds more than 95% of his Tesla shares and owns options to purchase another 18.6 million shares. Because all of those options will expire in August of next year, continued stock sales are almost guaranteed.
