Elon Musk exercises the latest batch of Tesla stock options behind the CEO’s recent stock trade
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Elon Musk has exercised the latest batch of a package of earned Tesla Inc. stock options that have underpinned several weeks of stock trading by the CEO.
On Tuesday, Mr. Musk converted more than 1.5 million options that expire in August 2022 into shares and sold more than 934,000 shares to cover associated taxes, according to regulatory records.
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The Tesla CEO has now exercised more than 22.8 million stock options since the transactions began last month. This sum represents all vested options that would have expired next year, which Mr. Musk earned under a compensation package from 201[ads1]2.
The transactions have increased Mr. Musk’s stake in Tesla from around 170.5 million shares to more than 177 million shares.
Total share sales in recent weeks have reached a value of more than 16 billion dollars. The sales are mostly related to a planned investment plan Mr. Musk set in September, according to revelations.
After setting the investment plan, Mr. Musk last month asked Twitter users if he should sell 10% of his Tesla share; people on the social media platform who voted supported the idea of a sale. The CEO began exercising Tesla stock options and selling shares in the company on November 8.
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Mr. Musk has sold around 15.7 million shares since then. How many shares make up his 10% pledge depends on how Mr. Musk defines his stake. Mr. Musk, who is compensated by Tesla in share allotments and does not accept cash salaries from the company, said last week on Twitter that “there are still a few tranches left, but almost finished.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Mr. Musk planned to sell more of the company’s shares in the coming weeks.
Mr. Musk has a net worth of around $ 279 billion, making him the richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has also sold some shares in recent weeks that are not related to the share options.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 1,088.47 | -5.47 | -0.50% |
Mr. Musk said he would pay more than $ 11 billion in taxes this year. He has orally sparred with some Democratic lawmakers on taxes, including Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Who asked the billionaire to pay more. Mr. Musk responded by saying he would pay more taxes than any American in history this year.
Mr. Musk will likely have future rounds of such trading activity under a grand compensation plan for 2018 approved by shareholders. Mr. Musk has already secured additional stock options under that program.
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Tesla’s shares fell after Musk started its transactions last month. The stock, which closed down 0.5% on Tuesday to $ 1,088.47, is down more than 10% from the day Musk took the Twitter poll.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
