Elon Musk Sells $8.8 Worth of Tesla Shares in 9 Days
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold more than 8.2 million shares in the electric company in the past 8 days for a total of $8.8 billion
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Of the sold shares, 2.8 million shares worth about $3 billion were used to cover taxes on three tranches of stock options
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Under a compensation plan from 2012, the billionaire has options to buy 26.4 million shares before it expires next year
Elon Musk has sold 8.2 million shares in Tesla Inc in the past 9 days, worth a total of over $8.8 billion.
The total sales mean that the billionaire has sold $6 billion more in shares than is required to pay his current tax bill.
Experts have predicted that he is either converting a portion of his wealth to cash or saving up in anticipation of larger tax bills next year.
Under a compensation plan with Tesla from 2012, Musk has options to buy 26.4 million shares. When the options expire next year, a tax bill estimated to be above $10 billion is expected to come due.
Business analysts have raised questions over why Musk will sell that many shares to pay for tax obligations next year. The only logical reason is if the Tesla boss expects stock prices to drop.
The share sales began when Elon Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should sell some of his Tesla stocks to pay tax and 58% voted yes.
While Musk is the richest man in the world, most of his wealth is tied up in stock. The billionaire stated on Twitter that he doesn’t get a salary or bonus.
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