Musk sold 934,091 shares after exercising options to buy 2.1
million stocks at $6.24 each on Monday. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39. He is
required to pay income taxes on the difference between the exercise price and
fair market value of the shares.
This is the second time in a week that the billionaire has
exercised his stock option. Last Monday, he sold another 934,000 shares for
$1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares.
The two options-related sales were set up in September via a
trading plan that allows corporate insiders to establish preplanned
transactions on a schedule, the filings said.
As of the end of 2020, he had an option to buy 22.86 million
shares, which expire in August next year, a Tesla filing shows.
On Nov. 6, Musk polled Twitter users about selling 10% of
his stake, pushing down Tesla's share price after a majority on Twitter said
they agreed with the sale. It was not clear how or whether the trading plan
related to Musk's Twitter poll.