According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla’s CEO donated a total of 5,044,000 shares of his automaker company. The donation, which is almost $6 billion worth, went to a charity between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29 last year.
Based on the closing prices of Tesla shares on the five days that he sold the stock, the exact gift was worth $5.74 billion. That makes it one of the biggest donations to a charity in history. But the name of the charity is still a secret because an unidentified trust was involved in the transaction.
The donation came after days of the UN giving details of its plan to fight world hunger to Musk. The organization previously claimed that only 2% of Musk’s fortune would be enough to save millions of lives.
Moreover, Musk’s donation came during his battles with some politicians including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who called on wealthy people to pay more taxes.
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So, the billionaire suggested to his Twitter followers to sell 10% of his stock in Tesla to pay the taxes. And he did it. Elon Musk sold $16.4 billion worth of shares in the electric-car maker in early November.
Musk’s donations are considered America’s second-biggest one. In the first place came Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.
Over the recent years, Musk Foundation become more active. The foundation promised to give South Texas, which is the city near SpaceX’s spaceport, a really large gift. Another $100 million will go to a winner in a competition for carbon removal. Also, two scientists will get $5 million for Covid-19 research.