Elon Musk's Tesla stock shocker! Wants Twitter to tell him if he should sell

Oops! Elon Musk has done it again. Yes, Elon Musk's Tesla stock poser to Twitter is a shocker!

Elon Musk polled his more than 62 million Twitter followers Saturday about whether he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock (REUTERS)

Oops! Elon Musk has done it again. Yes, Elon Musk's Tesla stock poser to Twitter is a shocker!  Another zany tweet or a real question? Elon Musk polled his more than 62 million Twitter followers Saturday about whether he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock, insisting he would do as voters say.

The over-the-top electric car maker's query follows a proposal by Congressional Democrats to tax the super-wealthy more heavily by targeting stocks, which are usually only taxed when sold.

"Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock," Musk wrote, asking followers whether they agree "yes" or "no."

"I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes," the multi-billionaire said.

Around 7:00 pm (2300 GMT), nearly 53 percent had voted in favor of selling.

Musk owned about 17 percent of Tesla's outstanding shares as of June 30, currently worth $208.37 billion, according to Bloomberg. The entrepreneur was also awarded a large package of stock options and convertible shares as compensation.

Taking into account his stakes in his other companies such as neurotechnology firm Neuralink and especially SpaceX, Musk is in theory the richest man in the world, with an estimated fortune of some $338 billion, according to Bloomberg.

"Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere," Musk tweeted.

"I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock."

Twitter reacts

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the poll received near 2 million responses in seven hours after he posted it, with 55% of respondents approving the proposal to sell the shares. The poll is scheduled to end around 3 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Sunday.

Musk's shareholding in Tesla comes to about 170.5 million shares as of June 30 and selling 10% of his stock would amount close to $21 billion based on Friday's closing, according to Reuters calculations.

'STOCKS GO DOWN'

Musk has an option to buy 22.86 million shares at $6.24 each, which expires on Aug. 13 next year, according to a Tesla filing. Tesla's closing price was $1,222.09 on Friday.

In September, Musk said he is likely to pay taxes of over half the gains he would make from exercising options. He also dismissed the possibility that he would take loans with his Tesla shares as collateral. "Stocks don't always go up. They go down," he said at the code conference.

Some Tesla board members, including his brother Kimbal Musk, offloaded large numbers of shares after Tesla stock hit a record high late October.

Musk recently said on Twitter he'd sell $6 billion in Tesla stock and donate it to the World Food Program (WFP), provided the organization disclosed more information about how it spent its money.

His tweet raised some eyebrows in the world of finance.

"We are witnessing the Twitter masses deciding the outcome of a $25B coin flip," Venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya wrote on Twitter.

"Looking forward to the day when the richest person in the world paying some tax does not depend on a Twitter poll," Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman tweeted.

Musk got into trouble with a tweet about taking Tesla private in 2018.