BERLIN, NOV 16 (BUS) : Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold $930 million in shares to meet tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options, US securities filings showed on Monday.
Musk sold 934,091 shares after exercising options to buy 2.1 million shares at $6.24 a share on Monday. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39. He is required to pay income taxes on the difference between the exercise price and the fair market value of the shares.
This is the second time in a week that a billionaire has exercised a stock option. Last Monday, he sold another 934 thousand shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares.
The filings said sales related to the two options were set up in September via a trading scheme that would allow corporate insiders to conduct pre-planned transactions on a schedule, according to Reuters.
As of the end of 2020, he had an option to buy 22.86 million shares, which expire in August of next year, a Tesla filing showed.
On November 6, Musk polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake, sending Tesla’s stock price down after a majority on Twitter said it approved the sale. It was not clear how or if the trading plan was linked to Musk’s Twitter poll.
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