Last weekend, he said he would sell 10 percent of his holdings in the company, worth more than $20 billion, based on the results of a poll he conducted on Twitter. The sale tweets caused a panicked sell-off of Tesla stock earlier this week but it recovered slightly yesterday, with shares up 2.6 percent to $1,096.
The poll raises questions about whether it was always Musk’s intention to sell off regardless, with tax transactions “automatically effected” in a sell-off plan already agreed in September.
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The hope among Tesla executives, including Elon Musk, is that it will continue to recover from the dip it suffered after he sold shares.
The company noted in its third-quarter Securities and Exchange Commission 10-Q report this year that Musk “may be forced by one or more of the banking institutions to sell shares of Tesla common stock to satisfy his loan obligations” if stock prices continue to drop substantially.
Musk’s options expire in August of next year but in order to exercise them, he has to pay the income tax on the gain, meaning he will be taxed at the top income level (37 percent) plus 3.8 percent net investment tax. He will also have to pay a 13.3 percent tax rate in California.
For the moment, however, his place is secure with an estimated 15 percent ownership after he sells off part of his over $200 billion stake in the firm. It has prompted speculation online that he may be looking to take a step back from Tesla to focus on SpaceX operations - but that has not been confirmed by Musk.
Others heavily invested in Tesla are mostly capital groups, with Vanguard owning the second-highest number of shares (5.9 percent), followed by BlackRock and Capital Research.
Yesterday, his company successfully launched a delayed mission to return crew from the International Space Station back to earth using his Dragon capsule.
Last week, he challenged the United Nations World Food Programme boss David Beasley to explain the claim of how $6 billion of his personal wealth could stop millions from dying of starvation - and if he could, that he would sell Tesla shares to pay it “right now”.
He has also been influencing cryptocurrency markets in recent weeks, with his tweets sending the likes of Dogecoin and Bitcoin soaring in price.
Musk claims not to take a salary or bonus from Tesla, instead using sold shares to pay $1.1 billion in taxes due in the next 12 months.
The final result shows 58 percent of users supported the idea, which he has now partially carried out.
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