Despite the huge sale carried out by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, last year, shares of Tesla Corporationwhich represented in stock sales and the exercise of certain options, as well as his donations, which totaled $22 billion, but his stake in the electric car maker he founded rose, thanks to his bonus package.
Musk sold $16 billion in shares last year, and according to a document released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, he gave 5 million shares, worth regarding $6 billion, to a charitable foundation in November, CNBC reported. Al Arabiya.net reviewed it.
However, given the nature of the options exercise, Musk actually ended the year with a larger ownership stake — and more stock — in Tesla.
In 2021, Musk acquired 22.8 million shares, worth $28 billion, last fall when the sale began.
The way options exercise works is that Musk first started converting 22.8 million options into stock. The options enable Musk to buy shares in Tesla at $6.24 per share, which was trading at more than $1,000 last fall.
With each transfer of options, he will simultaneously sell the shares to pay taxes, as the options are taxed as income. Even as he offloaded billions of dollars worth of shares to pay taxes, he was accumulating more shares at the lower option price, thus increasing his ownership in the company.
In total, Musk sold 15.7 million shares for $16.4 billion. Add to that the granted shares, and his total sales amounted to 20.7 million shares. However, he acquired 22.8 million shares through the exercise of options, leaving him with an additional 2 million shares in Tesla at the end of the year. He currently owns 172.6 million shares, representing a 17% stake in the company, putting him far from the largest single shareholder.
Musk started his sales by participating in a poll by his Twitter followers to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla, a poll that ended with 58% in favor of the sale and 42% once morest him.
In the end, he kept his promise to sell 10% of his stake. But he regained more options, giving him a round trip in stocks that left him with billions in cash, the largest tax payment in U.S. history and more Tesla shares.
Musk’s net worth – $227 billion – is likely to rise once more in the future. His next bonus, expected in 2028, is likely to be greater than the one he got in 2012, which he exercised last year.
