Musk Donated Billions in Tesla Shares in 2022

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Facts

  • On Tuesday, a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing showed that CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, Elon Musk, donated 11.6M shares in the electric vehicle company — worth approximately $1.95B — to charity in 2022.1
  • The donations were made between August and December, though the organization or organizations to which the money was given were not disclosed.1
  • Musk now owns approximately 13% of Tesla after selling close to $23B of his shares last year, partly to support his $44B purchase of Twitter last fall.2
  • Musk, whose estimated net worth is close to $200B, donated approximately $5.7B worth of shares in 2021. In the same year, the Tesla CEO pledged to donate $20M to schools in Cameron County and $10M to the city of Brownsville in Texas to fund 'downtown revitalization.'3
  • Tesla stock took a 65% hit in 2022, while Musk was completing his Twitter purchase. The drop also coincided with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, and growing fears of a recession circling the US economy.4

Sources: 1Reuters, 2Wall Street Journal, 3BBC News and 4Business Insider.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Www.theepochtimes.com. This demonstrates that Musk is continuing in his philanthropy, having previously donated $5.7B in stocks in 2021 and pledging to donate millions to schools in Texas in the same year. In 2012, he signed the Giving Pledge and promised to donate at least half of his wealth to charity during his life or after his death. He is clearly sticking to it as, since then, the Musk Foundation has given $160M in gifts. Tesla's CEO understands the responsibility for charity and redistribution that comes with extreme wealth.
  • Narrative B, as provided by CNN. We should all hold off on exaggerating Musk's philanthropy. He donated less in 2022 than he did in 2021 and, across both years, the recipients of his donations were undisclosed. Musk is donating relatively small chunks of his stake in Tesla and doing so with a lack of transparency that makes the transfer of such sums seem more a cause for suspicion than reverence. He could do much more with his wealth.

Predictions