Elon Musk Sells $5 Billion in Tesla Stock Earlier this week, Musk asked his Twitter followers to vote to determine the future of his Tesla holdings, but filings reveal the sale was already scheduled.
By Amanda Breen
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold almost $5 billion in Tesla stock, financial filings released Wednesday evening reveal. Musk continues to hold 166 million shares.
In a series of trades made on Tuesday and Wednesday, the billionaire's trust sold more than 3.5 million shares worth in excess of $3.88 billion; the transactions weren't marked as 10b5, which means the sales weren't scheduled in advance.
Filings also demonstrated that Musk intends to sell a separate block of Tesla shares. The planned sale, initiated on September 14, totals more than 930,000 shares at a value of more than $1.1 billion.
According to CNBC, the sales were made in part to satisfy tax obligations related to an exercise of stock options.
Before the sale plan went public, Musk encouraged his 62.5 million Twitter followers to vote in an informal poll, saying their vote would sway the future of his Tesla holdings. About 58% of respondents voted for Musk to sell. But the filings show that some of Musk's shares were already scheduled for sale this week.
Tesla shares dropped more than 15% after the Twitter poll, then rose more than 4% on Wednesday. The stock continued to increase in aftermarket trading on Thursday.
Since Tesla's market cap exceeded $1 trillion on October 28, current and former board members have sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the shares. All of those sales were planned (marked as 10b5), with the exception of Kimbal Musk's. He sold approximately $109 million worth of his shares one day before his brother's Twitter poll.
Related: Elon Musk Sinks Tesla Shares With Contentious Twitter Poll
