Elon Musk Makes $5.7 Billion Donation to Charity

• A new SEC filing has revealed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated $5.7 billion to charity in November last year

• The donations were made in the form of 5 million Tesla shares and came days after the UN gave Musk details of its plan to fight world hunger

• The filing failed to specify which charity the billionaire donated to, but a trust was involved in the transfer

Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated a total of 5 million shares in the electric automaker to a charity between November 19 and 29 last year, according to a filing released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The donation was worth $5.74 billion, going by the closing prices of Tesla shares on the days when the stocks were donated. The filing however failed to disclose the name of the charity that received the donation.

The donation which is one of the largest single made by an individual, happened after the billionaire sold $16.4 billion worth of shares following a poll in favor of selling Tesla shares by his Twitter followers.
Analysts are suggesting that the tax benefit associated with donations was one of the triggers for the billionaire’s huge donation. This is because shares donated to charity are not subject to capital gains tax unlike if they were sold.

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The donation ranks Elon Musk the second-biggest donor in America, behind only Bill Gates and Melinda French last year.

Musk and fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos have been heavily criticized for their minimal donations over the years. Both have donated less than 1% of their net worth, in comparison with others such as Warren Buffett and George Soros, who have given away more than 20%.

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