Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he was “nearly done” with the sale of his stock after selling more than $15 billion for more than a month. The billionaire made confusing statements about whether or not he could live up to his stated goal of selling 10 percent of his Tesla shares.
“I sold enough stock to get about 10 percent plus option exercise material and I tried to be extremely literal here,” he said in an interview Tuesday with conservative satirical website Babylon Bee. But on Wednesday he suggested that that may not be done, he tweeted, referring to his pre-arranged sale plan relating to his options, “it assumes completion of the 10B sale.”
“Still a few installments left, but almost done,” he later tweeted.
According to the Tesla filing, under the Rule 10b5-1 trading plan established in September, he has exercised stock options that expire next year and sold a portion of the shares to pay taxes. After a flurry of sales, Musk still has about 1.5 million stock options expiring in August of next year.
Tesla shares closed up 7.5 percent at $1,008.87, valuing the company at just over $1 trillion.
“overtaxation”
Musk said on November 6 that he would sell his 10 percent stake if Twitter users agreed. Tesla shares, which had hit record highs, soon lost nearly a quarter of their value. On Wednesday, Musk sold another 934,091 shares, bringing his total to 14.77 million shares — nearly 90 percent of the 17 million or more shares he expected to sell.
Asked whether he sold because of a Twitter poll, he said Tuesday that he needs to exercise stock options expiring next year “no matter what.” He said he sold off additional “incremental stock” to get around 10 percent. Of the 14.77 million shares sold, 9.34 million were sold to pay taxes related to their option exercise, according to Tesla’s securities filing.
Musk, who moved the company’s headquarters from California to Texas earlier this month, also criticized California for “overtaxation” and “overregulation” in a Tuesday interview.
“California used to be a land of opportunity and now it is becoming … more like a land of overabundance, overabundance, exaggeration,” he said, adding that it was “more difficult to get things done” in California. .
On Sunday, he said he would pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year. He has stated that his personal tax rate is above 50%, which would include federal and state income taxes. Musk said last year he had relocated from California to Texas where he didn’t have to pay any income tax.
Musk also said that the “metaverse”, which describes shared virtual environments, is not compelling, adding that playing video games with glasses on can cause motion sickness. “Sure, you can put a TV on your nose.”
“I think we’re far from missing out in the metaverse. It just feels kind of buzzword-y.”
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