Tesla shares surged this week despite CEO Elon Musk selling at least $ 8.8 billion worth of Tesla shares. Musk has pledged to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla, in part to pay taxes on the more than $ 10 billion stock options granted to him in 2012.
According to regulatory filings, the CEO sold 934,091 shares on Tuesday for approximately $ 973 million. This follows the $ 7.8 billion in sales he has made since he asked his Twitter followers on November 6 if he should cut his share. Musk also exercised 2.1 million stock options on Tuesday, and some of that sale went towards taxes.
To reach the threshold of selling 10 percent of his stake in Tesla, Musk will need to sell about 17 million shares, which is roughly 1.7 percent of the company's outstanding shares. He has gotten rid of approximately 8.8 million shares so far. If his exercisable options count, he will need to sell more.
Following a Twitter poll, Musk exercised 6.4 million options, during which he did not reveal that his derivatives would expire next year. He said he had developed a pre-agreed trading plan to conduct "orderly sales of stocks associated with the exercise of stock options," the documents show.
Tesla shares rose 2.4% in pre-sale in the US, breaking a three-day losing streak in the previous session and closing 4.1% higher at $ 1,054.73. Shares are down 14% from their peak on November 4th.
