After polling Twitter, Elon Musk sold Tesla shares worth $1.1B to cover Biden’s proposed “Billionaire tax”, Musk was able to sell 10% of the stake.

  • Musk sold shares in order to pay tax for a stock option exercise that was worth $2.5billion
  • This follows a tweet poll that suggested he sell 10% of his Tesla stake
  • Musk states that he can’t pay the tax proposed on unrealized gains in another way. 
  • This week’s liquidation doesn’t represent all of 10%. It is only about $20 billion.
  • After-hours trading saw Tesla shares rise following disclosures by the company 










Tesla CEO Elon Tesla has sold a portion of his stock in Tesla to meet tax obligations related the exercise of stock options.

Musk bought Tesla shares in the amount of $1.1billion and used stock options worth approximately $2.5billion, according to an regulatory filing filed by Tesla late on Wednesday.

Following the announcement, electric car company Tesla’s shares rose 2 percent. It helped offset the multiday selloff that could have threatened its position in the $1 Trillion club.

After Musk polled users on Twitter Saturday to sell 10 percent of his stake, it was feared that this could cause a drop in Tesla’s share price. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold some of his stake in the electric car maker to satisfy tax obligations related to exercising stock options

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold part of his share to pay taxes related to stock option exercise.

The electric car maker's stock rose 2 percent after the bell on the news

After the bell on the news, the stock of the electric car manufacturer rose by 2 percent

The rising stock price before it is sold refers to unrealized gains. The current law permits profits to be subject to tax only when realized on the sale of stocks or other similar assets. 

Musk pledged to follow the results of the Twitter poll in which 58% voted for him selling shares. 

After shares fell sharply in the wake of the Twitter poll, Tesla’s stock price recovered 4.3% to $1.067.95 during Wednesday’s trading session.

According to a DailyMail.com research note, Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst, stated that Musk followed the absurd Twitter poll he conducted over the weekend about his 10% ownership stake and has begun selling Tesla shares.

He said that investors will have to decide whether he plans on selling his entire 10 percent stake in the next months, or if it is done over time heading into 2022. 

Ives continues to be bullish about Tesla, with an outperform ratings. Musk should ‘rip off the bandaid now and sell that portion of the stock instead of it languishing over the next 12 months. 

Tesla stated in its filing that Musk had sold stock shares Monday to meet tax withholding obligations relating to exercise of stock options for purchase 2,154,572 shares.

Musk, 50, poised a question to his horde of 63.1 million Twitter followers on Saturday asking if he should sell 10 percent of his $250 billion stake in the company

Musk, 50 years old, asked 63.1 million of his Twitter followers a question on Saturday, asking whether he should be selling 10 percent his stake of $250 billion in the company

After the results indicated users were in favor of the billionaire selling off some of his Tesla shares, Musk since said he was 'prepared to accept either outcome'

Musk said that he would accept any outcome, even though the users favored Musk selling some Tesla shares.

Musk shares are not being sold off at a complete 10 percent. They would still be worth approximately $20 billion.  

Tesla lost nearly $150 billion this week in the market, but retail investors were net buyers. 

Fidelity’s brokerage website reported that 58 per cent of Tesla trade orders were made for sales, and only 57 percent of them were for purchases.

According to Vanda Research, retail investors bought net assets of $157 millions on Monday and Tuesday.

Tesla has risen more than 51% in 2021 due to an October rally that was driven by an agreement with Hertz to lease 100,000 Tesla vehicles.

Tim Ghriskey (a senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls and Snyder in New York) said that ‘the company itself is on fire with strong results’. “That will not fade fast.”

On Wednesday, Tesla options saw bullish sentiment return with approximately 1.1 puts traded for each call. Bullish trades typically use calls, but buying put shows a bearish bias.

A Reuters analysis of Trade Alert data revealed that the options company accounted for $109 billion worth premium turnover over the previous two weeks. That’s about one third of all the dollars traded in U.S.-listed Options markets.

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