Elon Musk actually sold his stake in Tesla and it was valued at $5 billion. The reason could be to pay his enormous tax bill in the future. Musk has said on several occasions that he is a person who does not like to be paid in cash, he prefers to be paid or given a bonus in the form of shares.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has sold more than 3.5 million of his shares. Citing CNBC, Thursday (11/11/2021), Elon Musk was recorded to sell several Tesla shares separately which he had set on September 14 this year. The sale amounted to more than 930,000 shares worth more than USD 1.1 billion used to pay taxes.
Before the planned sale was announced, Musk had polled his 62.5 million Twitter followers to vote for the poll -- though he said any follower response would not affect his decision.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, speaking at the DealBook Online Summit on Wednesday, said he personally disagreed with Musk's decision to sell his stake in Tesla.
"Individuals like Elon Musk, like Jeff Bezos have changed lives, and we want them to stay in control of their companies, as long as they have the energy and ambition to keep the business moving," he said.
Current and former board members including chairman Robyn Denholm, Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk, Ira Ehrenpreis and Antonio Gracias have sold hundreds of millions of dollars in Tesla stock since October 28 after Tesla's market cap surpassed $1 trillion.
Interestingly, among those insider sales, Kimbal Musk was the only transaction that wasn't listed as the perpetrator of the planned sale. Kimbal Musk sold about USD 109 million of his shares the day before his brother's Twitter poll.
