Elon Musk
Mike Blake | Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s trust sold about $1.2 billion in Tesla stock on Friday, according to financial filings posted Friday evening. He still holds more than 166 million shares in the company.
Musk sold about $6.9 billion worth of stock in the company over the course of the week. Some of the shares were sold in part to satisfy tax obligations related to an exercise of stock options.
Those sales impacted the company’s share price. Tesla stock declined 15.4% for the week, marking the company’s worst one-week performance in 20 months. It was also the worst week for Tesla stock ever, excluding declines in February and March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic sent markets tumbling.
Tesla shares are still up around 46% year to date following a record closing price of $1,229.91 on Nov. 4, 2021.
On Nov. 6, Musk asked his more than 60 million Twitter followers to vote in an informal poll and told them their vote would determine the future of his Tesla holdings. Financial documents filed during the week show that some were slated for sale this week no matter the outcome of the poll, however.
Previously, Musk signaled that he was likely to sell “a huge block” of his options in the fourth quarter. At an appearance at the Code Conference in September, Musk said when his stock options expire at Tesla, his marginal tax rate would be over 50%.
–CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
