Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold $930 million (about Rs 6,925) of shares to meet tax withholding obligations related to exercise of stock options, US securities filings showed on Monday. .
Musk sold 934,091 shares after exercising a call option of 2.1 million shares at $6.24 (about Rs 470) per share on Monday. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39 (about Rs 75,470). He must pay income tax on the difference between the strike price and the fair market value of the stock.
This is the second time this week the billionaire has exercised his stock options. Last Monday, he sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion (Rs 8,190) after exercising call options on nearly 2.2 million shares.
Two options-related deals were set up in September through a trading plan that allows company insiders to set up pre-scheduled trades, the filing said.
According to Tesla filings, as of the end of 2020, he has a call option of 22.86 million shares, which expires in August of next year.
On November 6, Musk polled Twitter user about selling 10 percent shares, driving down Tesla’s share price after a majority on Twitter said they agreed to the deal. It’s not clear if the trading plan is related to Musk’s Twitter poll.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
