Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday (6) asked his 62.5 million Twitter followers in a poll whether he should sell 10% of his shares in Tesla.
“A lot is said that unrealized gains are a means of tax evasion. So I propose to sell 10% of my Tesla shares,” Musk wrote in a tweet referring to a “billionaires tax” proposed by Democrats in the US Senate. The billionaire, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at US$ 203 billion, said on the social network that he will obey the poll results, whatever the ‘order’ of his followers.
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
Do you support this?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
The survey has already received more than one million responses and, by 8:52 pm, Brasília time, 54% of those interviewed had approved the proposal to sell the shares. Voting is scheduled to end at around 3:00 pm EDT on Sunday (7).
Musk’s stake in Tesla amounts to about 170.5 million shares as of June 30, and the sale of 10% of his shares would equate to about $21 billion based on Friday’s closing (5) , according to calculations by Reuters. The company’s shares closed at US$ 1,222.09, with a negative variation of 0.64%.
Analysts say he may have to divest a significant number of shares anyway to pay taxes, as a large number of options will expire next year.
Musk’s comments follow the US Congress’s proposal to tax billionaires’ assets to help pay for President Joe Biden’s climate change and social agenda.
Musk is currently the richest person in the world and the owner of several futuristic companies, including SpaceX and Neuralink. He had previously criticized the billionaire tax on Twitter. Your tweet raised some eyebrows in the finance world.
“We are witnessing the Twitter masses deciding the outcome of a $25 billion coin toss,” wrote venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya on the social network in response to Musk’s tweet.
“Looking forward to the day when the richest person in the world doesn’t depend on a Twitter poll to pay taxes,” published Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman.
Musk got into trouble with a tweet about Tesla in 2018.
The SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) sued him after he tweeted that he had “guaranteed funding” to make Tesla private at $420 a share. The agency said the tweet, which raised Tesla’s share price by 13.3%, violated securities laws. Musk later reached an agreement with the SEC to end the dispute.
“Please note, I don’t get cash salary or bonuses from anywhere. I only own shares, so the only way to pay taxes in person is to sell shares,” Musk said on Twitter.
Tesla shares recently hit a record after receiving its biggest order for 100,000 electric rental cars from Hertz.
Tesla’s board members, including Musk’s brother Kimbal, recently sold shares in the electric automaker. Kimbal Musk sold 88,500 shares, while board member Ira Ehrenpreis sold assets worth more than $200 million.
Musk recently said on Twitter that he would sell $6 billion worth of Tesla shares and donate to the WFP (World Food Program) as long as the organization revealed more information about how it spent its money. Musk and WFP boss David Beasley has been embroiled in a heated debate since Beasley challenged billionaires last week to give more of their wealth to end hunger.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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