Image: @stevenmarkryan/Twitter

Elon Musk has sold nearly $5 billion worth of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares, according to filings released late Wednesday.

Musk is very respectful of the Tesla shares he owns and never sells them for a permanent profit. However, now he must sell them, which is connected with the stock option and the payment of the associated taxes. In his first share sale since 2016, Musk's trust sold nearly 3.6 million shares in Tesla, worth around $4 billion, while he also sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares. 4.5 million shares represent about 3% of Tesla’s total shares.

On November 6, Musk polled Twitter users, many of whom are shareholders, regarding the sale of 10% of his stake. Almost 58% of the 3.5 million respondents supported the head of the company.

Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.

Do you support this?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021

The options-related sales were set up in September through a trading plan that allows corporate insiders to establish preplanned transactions on a schedule, the filing said. The sales of the option-related shares paid for associated taxes. Musk has more than 20 million further stock options that are due to expire in August of next year.

It should be kept in mind that the head of the company does not receive a salary and has no other sources of income other than stakes in his own companies.

© 2021, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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Eva Fox holds zero shares of Tesla, Inc., and currently (at the time of this article's publishing) holds zero options or securities in Tesla Inc. and/or its affiliates.