Musk offloads US$528 million of Tesla shares as 10% stake unwinds

Elon Musk sold 583,611 shares in Tesla, meaning he’s now more than three-quarters of the way to making good on his pledge to sell 10% of his stake. (PHOTO: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

By Will Davies

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk sold 583,611 shares in Tesla Inc. for US$528 million, meaning he’s now more than three-quarters of the way to making good on his pledge to sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker.

Musk has been offloading Tesla stock since asking his Twitter followers in November whether he should sell some of his stake. He said he would exercise options toward the end of the year and set up a share-trading plan prior to the poll.

The billionaire has now sold around 13.5 million shares for about US$14.1 billion, regulatory filings show. He’ll need to dispose of some 17 million shares all up to offload 10% of his interest in the US-based EV pioneer, assuming his pledge excludes exercisable options.

Tesla shares have fallen 24% since a peak on Nov. 4, just prior to Musk’s Twitter poll, to which the majority of answered “yes.”

Musk, 50, is the world’s richest man, atop of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a fortune of US$244.9 billion. He said in a Tweet late Sunday that he would pay more than US$11 billion in taxes this year.

© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.