Twitter Users Call Elon Musk On His Bluff to Sell 10% of His Tesla Stock
Multibillionaire Elon Musk should sell about 10% of his Tesla stock, according to 57.9% of people who voted on his Twitter poll on Saturday asking users of the social media network whether he should offload or not. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock,” he tweeted, referring to a “billionaires’ tax” proposed by Democrats. “Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock,” Musk said in a follow-up tweet.
As of June 30th, Musk’s shareholding in Tesla came to about 170.5 million shares, and selling 10% would amount to close to $21 billion based on Friday’s closing, according to Reuters calculations.
Musk has criticized the proposed “Billionaires Tax”, which would affect 700 billionaires and impose taxes for long-term capital gains on tradable assets, whether or not they have been sold. Even if he did sell off that proposed 10%, it would still leave Musk as the richest man on the planet.
The poll received near 2 million responses in seven hours after he posted it, with 55% of respondents approving the proposal to sell the shares. The poll ended at 3pm EST on Sunday. “I was prepared to accept either outcome,” Musk tweeted after the voting ended.
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
This isn’t the first time Musk has flippantly tweeted about his wealth and how it could impact those in need. Musk recently said on Twitter he’d sell $6 billion in Tesla stock and donate it to the World Food Program (WFP), provided the organization disclosed more information about how it spent its money.
Elon Musk sells 10% of his company’s stock and gets $28 billion.
I sell 10% of my company’s stock and get $28.
We are not the same.
— Douglas A. Boneparth (@dougboneparth) November 7, 2021
Twitter users certainly weren’t shy and told Musk that amount of money would be much better spent down here on Earth, rather than going towards rockets and space bunkers for billionaires.
Hey @elonmusk, you said you were going to pledge 6,000,000,000$ to held end world hunger, right? Think you can do something about this while you're at it? https://t.co/C10CLGspD5
— Marcus Bowenford (@GBBowenford) November 7, 2021
If @elonmusk sells $25 billion of Tesla shares tomorrow he will have enough money to give each person in the world $3 million. I hope he does this!
— greg (@greg16676935420) November 7, 2021
I really think Elon Musk & the other billionaires need to hear this: humans will never live on any planet except Earth, so please use your kabillions to help save this planet instead of trying to escape it @elonmusk @JeffBezos @richardbranson @BillGates https://t.co/n0MFly0AsX
— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) November 7, 2021