Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has decided to let go of $5 billion worth of stock in the company. This comes after the billionaire created a poll on Twitter to ask his followers whether or not they thought it would be a good idea for him to sell 10% of his stake in the company. According to regulatory filings, Musk unloaded $4.5 billion of stocks just this week.
The richest person in the world, Musk took to Twitter over the weekend to ask his pressing question, thereby whipping up a media frenzy. While the question seemed to be posed with the debate over billionaires avoiding taxes in mind, the filings which were released on Wednesday indicated that a portion of the transactions had already been meditated in mid-September. It was also revealed that Musk had millions of stock options that were due to expire next August.
The results of the poll were highly one-sided, with respondents voting heavily in favor of Musk selling his stocks in the electric vehicle company. As a result of Musk’s decision to sell, Tesla Inc. stocks slumped by 16% over the first two days of the week. The stocks managed to recover slightly on Wednesday, gaining 4.3% before rising by 4.8% before trading resumed on Thursday.
