Tesla CEO Elon Musk has donated 268,000 Tesla shares worth almost $112 million to charity, according to a regulatory filing on December 30. This isn’t the first time Musk has made large charitable donations. In 2022, he donated $1.95 billion worth of Tesla shares to charity in several transactions between August and December. In 2021, he gave away $5.7 billion worth of Tesla shares, which was later revealed to have gone to his own foundation.
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Why Elon Musk donated his shares
The shares, as stated in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), were donated as part of Musk’s “year-end tax planning” to “certain charities” that have “no current intention to sell such stock,” the filing showed. The charities that received the shares are not named, and they do not plan to sell them anytime soon, the filing stated.
Despite this donation, Musk, the world’s richest person with a net worth of over $415 billion (according to Bloomberg), still owns close to 411 million Tesla shares through a trust he set up in 2003. As of last year, Musk held about 13% of Tesla’s total shares, according to a company report from 2024.
Musk, who also leads companies like SpaceX and the social media platform X, was previously awarded 304 million Tesla stock options in 2018. However, this compensation package was twice rejected by a court in Delaware and is currently being contested by Tesla shareholders.
Judge rejects Elon Musk’s salary
Last year in December, a Delaware judge once again rejected Elon Musk’s record-breaking compensation package at Tesla. This means that Tesla CEO Musk is prevented from accessing a pay package whose potential value has soared along with Tesla’s stock price. “As of Monday, the pay package was worth $101.4 billion, according to Equilar, a compensation consulting firm,”.
Read more: World’s richest man is fighting for his salary, and he loses yet again
