A majority of 3.5 million Twitter users - 58% - said they’d support such a sale in a Twitter poll that Musk launched Saturday and closed on Sunday in New York. The stake would be valued at about $21 billion based on 170.5 million Tesla shares he holds. cryptocurrency version
Musk’s tweets have moved Tesla shares in the past, sometimes drawing the ire of authorities. Musk in 2018 agreed to get approval from a Tesla attorney prior to communicating material information to investors as part of a settlement with U.S. securities regulators. It wasn’t clear whether that official previewed Musk’s Twitter poll.
The automaker’s stock has soared 73% this year to $1,222.09 as of November 5, giving it a valuation of $1.2 trillion. The number of shares that Musk - its chief executive officer and largest shareholder - could be set to offload is equivalent to 80% of Tesla’s average daily trading volume in the past three months. The amount of stock he may potentially sell would be even greater if his options are included.
"Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll," U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote in a tweet Saturday."It’s time for the Billionaires Income Tax."