Elon Musk Says He Is Selling TSLA Stock as Tesla Rises Back to $1T

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief executive officer Elon Musk recently disclosed that he is close to completing his TSLA stock sales. In just over one month, Musk has sold more than $15 billion worth of Tesla stock. In a media session on Tuesday, the billionaire said:

“I sold enough stock to get to around 10% plus the option exercise stuff and I tried to be extremely literal here.”

However, Musk’s initial assertion still came across as ambiguous to many, particularly regarding whether he has reached his predetermined objective of selling 10% of his Tesla stock. The Tesla CEO responded with additional information in a recent tweet:

“There are still a few tranches left, but almost done.”

The Tesla Stock Situation Following Elon Musk’s Recent Assertion

In the wake of Musk’s TSLA stock update, the automaker’s shares climbed 7% back to over $1 trillion in market capitalization. Tesla’s market valuation first hit the trillion-dollar mark in late October. This came about after American car rental Hertz announced order of about 100,000 Tesla Model 3 cars. The car rental company was in the process of an extensive garage shakeup in a bid to be more ‘green.’

Soon after Musk first announced plans to offload 10% of TSLA stock in early November, the EV firm’s stock dipped. Notwithstanding, yesterday’s reversal also sees TSLA stock settle at over $1,000 per share.

Elon Musk still has about 1.5 million Tesla stock options set to expire in August next year. Furthermore, according to Tesla filings, he has exercised stock options that expire next year and sold a portion to meet tax obligations. This implies that the Tesla CEO would not be selling any additional shares outside of his compensation plan.

Elon Musk Relocates Tesla to Texas

Back in November, Musk announced intentions to relocate Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas and followed through early this month. The Tesla CEO cited a number of reasons for that decision, including burdensome regulation and high taxation.

“California used to be the land of opportunity and now it is … becoming more so the land of sort of overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation,” said he.

Musk also stated that getting things done in California was becoming increasingly difficult. Last year, the billionaire revealed that he relocated from California to Texas to avoid income tax.

Elon Musk Wins Accolades

Several days ago, Musk won this year’s ‘person of the year’ awards for both Time Magazine and the Financial Times. This was primarily because of his role in the mainstream adoption of electric vehicles. Furthermore, Time Magazine also acknowledged Musk’s progressive space work and interest in digital currencies.

Musk’s efforts in the auto industry now see other well-established brands such as Mercedes and BMW pledge their futures to EVs. With a net worth of around $278 billion, Musk frequently trades places with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos for the title of  ‘world’s richest.’

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Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.