Elon Musk Continues Selling His Shares In Tesla As His Effort To Pay Big Income Taxes

Elon Musk, continue his plan to sell his stake in Tesla. (photo: instagram)

JAKARTA – Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, who has sold more than $15 billion in shares in his company since early November, said on Wednesday December 22 that he was "almost done" with his plan to sell his shares.

The billionaire has made confusing statements as to whether or not he may or may not have accomplished his goal of selling his 10% Tesla stake.

"I'm selling enough stock to get about 10% plus option exercise items and I'm trying to be very literal here," he said in an interview on Tuesday with conservative satirical website Babylon Bee.

But last Wednesday he suggested he might not finish. "This assumes a 10 billion sale completion," he tweeted, referring to his prearranged sales plan related to his options.

"There are still some stages left, but it's almost done," he later tweeted, quoted by Reuters.

Under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan created in September, it has exercised stock options that expire next year and sold part of the stock to pay taxes, according to Tesla's filing.

Following a flurry of selling, Musk still has about 1.5 million stock options expiring in August next year.

Tesla shares extended gains, rising more than 5% on Thursday after ending 7.5% higher in the previous session.

'OVERTAXED LAND'

Musk said on November 6 he would sell his 10% stake if Twitter users agreed. Tesla shares, which are near record highs, lost about a quarter of their value soon after.

As of last Wednesday, Musk sold another 934,091 shares, bringing the total he has issued to 14.77 million — nearly 90% of the 17 million or so shares he hopes to sell.

Asked if he's selling because of a Twitter poll? He said last Tuesday that he needed to exercise stock options expiring next year "no matter what." He added he was selling an additional "additional stake" for close to 10%.

Of the 14.77 million shares sold, 9.34 million were sold to pay taxes related to exercising the options, according to Tesla's securities filings.

Musk, who moved the company's headquarters from California to Texas earlier this month, also criticized California for "excessive taxation" and "overregulation" in Tuesday's interview.

"California used to be a land of opportunity and now ... is becoming more like a land of excessive regulation, excessive courts, excessive taxes," he said, adding that it was "getting harder to get things done" in California.

On Sunday, he said he would pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year. He said his personal tax rate was up to 50%, which would cover both federal and state income taxes. Musk said last year he had moved from California to Texas where he faces no state income taxes.