Tesla shares suffered this Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, after the new dip in the social networks of its founder, Elon Musk, who decided to sell 10% of the company's shares after proposing that transaction in a survey public to Twitter users.
Before the opening of the session, in the pre-market movements , the shares lost 6%, although after the sound of the campaign they partially recovered and at the close of the day they fell 4.92%, to 1,162.00.
(The UN response to Musk's offer to donate to fight famine).
Musk, whose continuous forays into Twitter often cause seismic movements, decided on Sunday to open the vote by assuring: "There is a lot of talk lately that unrealized gains are a way to avoid taxes, so I propose to sell 10% of my shares of Tesla. Do you support this?"
The controversial businessman, who owns 17% of the company's shares, explained that he does not receive "a cash salary or bonus from anywhere" and linked his move with tax issues: "I only have shares, therefore my only way to pay taxes personally is to sell shares," he said.
AN EXPECTED SALE
According to the specialized page CNBC, Musk will have to face the payment of 15,000 million dollars in taxes in the coming months, so a sale of these dimensions was quite likely beyond the fact that he has put the fate of his capital.
(Elon Musk, richer than most Latin American countries).
In 2012 , the businessman received 22.8 million dollars in Tesla options ($6.24 per share at that time), whose value, last Friday, stood at $1,222 per unit, which means a profit of 28,000 million .
Said purchase options expire in August, according to CNBC, and to execute them, Musk must pay the corresponding taxes on the profits.
Musk has about 170.5 million shares, according to CNN, and selling a tenth at a price of $1,222 would net him around $21 billion.
With a long-term capital gains tax rate of 20%, he would pay about $4.2 billion in taxes.
Tesla shares have seen an increase of around 75% so far this year, but have also suffered surprise drops like today.
In fact, according to the FactSet website, Tesla shares have lost more than 5% in value nine times so far this year, reflecting the volatility of its stock.
A COMPLICATED COEXISTENCE WITH TWITTER
His unusual foray into social networks to decide to sell shares is not an isolated event for the billionaire, whose interventions have triggered cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin and have caused falls and rises of his own company.
The last one occurred on November 2, when he assured that the agreement between Tesla and Hertz for the sale of vehicles was not finalized, which pushed the titles to depreciate more than 4%.
The Dogecoin cryptocurrency, created in 2013 as a joke, has also experienced strong ups and downs due to Musk's tweet comments.
Last May this currency soared, to fall again and rise again due to comments from the businessman who sometimes praises it and others ignores it. In September 2018, fed up with his social media verbiage, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forced Musk to have Tesla monitor his comments on "material issues" related to the company and that could affect the price of the shares on the Stock Exchange.
Musk accepted the SEC's proposal to avoid a fraud lawsuit after Musk also stated on Twitter that he had secured the necessary financing to take Tesla private and suggested that he would pay $420 per share to carry out the operation.
EFE
