Sunday 07 November 2021
Twitter poll has decided
Musk is said to be selling Tesla shares
On paper, after the rise in Tesla shares, Elon Musk is by far the richest person in the world. However, he does not have to pay taxes until he sells parts of the shares. The Tesla boss can vote on this on Twitter. The result is now clear.
Tesla boss Elon Musk has had Twitter users oblige him to sell a tenth of his stake in the electric car manufacturer for higher tax payments. In a Twitter poll initiated by Musk, 57.9 percent of the vote was for the stock sale. The package would currently be worth more than $ 20 billion.
As by far the richest person in the world, the 50-year-old has recently been increasingly confronted with demands to contribute more to solving the world’s problems and to pay more taxes. The value of Musk’s fortune has grown strongly in recent months with the steady rise in the price of Tesla shares, at least on paper. However, according to the current rules, taxes are only due when he reaps the price gains from a sale.
Musk said on Twitter at the start of the survey that since he does not get a salary or bonus payments, selling stocks is the only way for him to pay taxes. He will stick to the result of the Twitter vote, no matter how it turns out, assured Musk.
A total of 3.5 million votes were cast within 24 hours by Sunday evening, Central European time. Musk did not provide any information on how quickly he would sell the block of shares. In the United States, there are often pre-agreed schedules for stock sales by top managers. Musk had already talked about selling stocks in September.
Shares worth around $ 21 billion
In the USA, among others, there is currently a lot of discussion about reforming the tax system, which could start with wealth. Referring to Twitter, Musk said, “Recently, unrealized gains have often been referred to as a way to avoid taxes, so I suggest selling 10 percent of my Tesla stock.”
According to calculations by financial service Bloomberg, the package would correspond to 80 percent of the average daily trading volume of Tesla shares. Based on the 170.5 million shares that are held by Musk, the ten percent at the current price would be worth around $ 21 billion (about 18.1 billion euros). Bloomberg calculates Musk’s total fortune on its billionaires list at $ 338 billion. The star entrepreneur also holds a large stake in the space company SpaceX.
Just a few days ago, Musk had a Twitter debate with the head of the US World Food Program, David Beasley. After Beasley asked the billionaire for help in the fight against hunger, Musk asked him to first publish detailed information on the spending “so people can see exactly where the money is going.”