Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk donated 5,044,000 shares to an unnamed charity, reveals a Form 5 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The filing shows Musk donated the shares starting on November 19, 2021, with following transactions on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 29th of the same month. Reuters says the donation was worth $5.74 billion USD, based on the closing stock prices over the period of the gift last year.
Musk donated 2,234,000 shares on the first day, followed by 1,560,000 shares, then two days at 500,000 shares each, followed by 250,000 shares on the final day.
By the end of 2021, Musk had sold off 10% of his stake in Tesla, after asking a poll on Twitter on whether or not he should do so. In the end, Musk offloaded $16.4 billion worth of Tesla shares. He said he would pay over $11 billion in taxes in 2021.
Donated stocks aren’t subject to capital gains tax, and some believe the stock sale might result in a tax benefit for the Tesla CEO, says Reuters.
In late October 2021, Musk called out the United Nations World Food Program, particularly director David Beasley, who claimed 2% of the Tesla CEO’s wealth could solve world hunger. Musk replied, “if WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.
The $5.7 billion Tesla stock sale is fairly close to the UN number from last year, but it could also be a coincidence. It’s unclear if Musk ever discussed solutions to world hunger with Beasley.
Musk also has the Musk Foundation, a charity set up in 2001 that currently has over $200 million in assets.
