To reach the 10 percent threshold, Musk would need to sell some 17 million shares, or about 1.7 percent of the company’s outstanding stock. If his exercisable options are factored into his overall ownership, he’ll need to sell even more.
Since the Twitter poll, Musk has exercised millions of options that were less than a year from their expiration date. In September, he established a pre-arranged trading plan to carry out “an orderly sale of shares related to the exercise of stock options,” filings show. Musk didn’t mention the existence of that plan in his tweets early this month.
Tesla shares were little changed as of 5 a.m. New York time Wednesday, before the start of regular trading. The shares have traded down about 9 percent since Musk’s poll.
Musk, 50, is the world’s richest person with a $303.7 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s added $133.9 billion to his net worth this year — more than anyone else — amid a 57 percent jump in Tesla shares.
