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Elon Musk is TSLA’s Largest Single Shareholder despite Unleashing $22 billion of Tesla Shares!
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- Last year, Elon Musk raked in about $22 billion in stock sales, option exercises, tax payment sales, and donated shares.
- Despite selling so much Tesla shares, according to his remuneration structure, he now holds a bigger portion of the firm than when he started.
- Musk controls 172.6 million Tesla shares, or 17 percent of the company, making him the company’s single largest stakeholder.
Elon Musk sold $16 billion worth of stock last year and gave 5 million shares worth roughly $6 billion to an unknown charity or beneficiary in November, according to a report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. A combination of tax payments, cash in his pocket, and the donation brings his total to approximately $22 billion.
Alongside this, Musk ended the year with a greater ownership holding — and more shares — in Tesla due to the structure of the option exercises. Musk was given options on 22.8 million shares worth nearly $28 billion in 2012, which he began selling last autumn.
Elon Musk started turning the 22.8 million options into shares first, which is how the options exercises operate. He could pay $6.24 for each option and acquire a share of Tesla stock, which was selling for more than $1,000 last October.
Since the options are taxed as income, he may sell shares to pay income tax for each option conversion.
Even while he was dumping billions of dollars in stock to pay taxes, he was collecting even more stock at the cheap options price, expanding his control of the firm.
Elon Musk sold 15.7 million shares for $16.4 billion in total. He unloaded a total of 20.7 million shares, including the given shares. Despite the options exercise, he acquired 22.8 million shares, leaving him with 2 million more shares in Tesla at the end of the year. He presently holds 172.6 million shares, or 17 percent of the corporation, becoming the company‘s biggest single shareholder.
On Nov. 6, Musk began his stock trading with a poll, telling his followers, “Much has been made recently about unrealized gains being a way of tax evasion, therefore I suggest selling 10% of my Tesla shares.” “Do you agree with this?” Musk promised to follow the poll’s findings, which found 58 percent in support of a sale and 42 percent opposed.
In the end, he delivered on his commitment to sell 10% of his stock. But he got even more using options, which provided him a round-trip stock journey that netted him billions of dollars in cash, the highest single tax payment in US history, and even more Tesla shares.
Elon Musk’s stake in Tesla — and his $227 billion fortune — is certain to rise more in the future. In 2028, his next major salary deal, which might be much bigger than the one he received in 2012, will expire.
