Elon Musk has made ‘mystery gifts’. According to a recent regulatory filing, Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated 268,000 shares of Tesla stock valued at nearly $112 million. The Securities and Exchange (SEC) filing dated December 30 says that the donation is to charity and that the transaction is part of Musk’s year-end tax planning. The donation reportedly is gifts of common stock to nonprofits that are unknown, as per the filing.
Elon Musk, who owns about 12.8% of Tesla, made the donation as part of his “year-end tax planning” to “certain charities” that have “no current intention to sell such stock,” the filing showed. The recipients “have no current intention to sell” the shares, the SEC filing said.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Elon Musk has donated Tesla shares. In 2022, Musk gifted shares worth $1.95 billion across seven transactions between August and December, all designated as charitable donations (according to Reuters). In 2021, he donated $5.7 billion in Tesla shares, which was revealed in December 2022 to have gone to his foundation.
Musk’s foundation does not provide detailed information about its activities, stating only that it supports renewable energy, space exploration, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and the development of safe AI “to benefit humanity.”
Elon Musk’s Tesla holding
The world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk has a net worth exceeding $415 billion (according to Bloomberg). He holds slightly under 411 million Tesla shares through his 2003 revocable trust. This represents 13% of Tesla’s total shares as of last year, according to a 2024 proxy statement cited by Bloomberg.
Musk, who also leads SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), received 304 million Tesla stock options in 2018. However, this compensation package has faced legal challenges, being rejected twice by a Delaware Chancery Court, with Tesla shareholders currently appealing the latest ruling.
