Musk Warns "If Billionaire Tax Mentioned Again, Will Sell Tesla Shares"

Socialist Bernie Sanders and Dispute
Political Pressure Through Tesla Stock Sale

Elon Musk [Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has opposed the billionaire tax, has hinted at the possibility of selling additional Tesla shares as he launched an attack on Senator Bernie Sanders, a leading progressive representative in the U.S. Congress. The conflict appears to be escalating as Musk confronts a leading figure of the progressive camp over the billionaire tax.

As the progressive figure and Musk clash, an unfortunate situation is being created where only innocent individual investors may suffer.

The trigger was Senator Sanders' Twitter post. On the 14th (local time), Sanders tweeted, "We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair (tax) share," to which Musk responded in a comment, "I kept forgetting that you are still alive."

Musk continued with remarks that surprised Tesla investors. Musk said, "Do I want to sell more shares? Bernie, just say the word," warning that if the billionaire tax is mentioned, he might sell additional Tesla shares. Bloomberg also reported that Musk has signaled further stock sales.

Senator Sanders did not respond to Musk's provocative comment. Instead, Melissa Byrne, a Sanders associate, tweeted, "Everyone, let's not buy Tesla shares. We should not reward someone who is insulting."

This is not the first time the two have engaged in an online war of words. In March, Sanders criticized Musk and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, for having more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans, calling it "immoral greed."

In response, Musk argued that the money earned from Tesla shares would be used for SpaceX’s human colonization projects on the Moon and Mars.

Senator Bernie Sanders [Photo by Reuters]

On the 6th, Musk posted a sudden tweet asking whether he should dispose of 10% of his Tesla shares, citing the ongoing U.S. congressional discussions on a wealth tax, and from the 8th, he sold $6.9 billion (8.1 trillion won) worth of Tesla shares over five consecutive days, alarming Tesla investors.

Tesla’s stock price, which had soared above $1,200, barely held above $1,000 due to Musk’s stock sales. If Musk sells additional shares, it will be difficult to guarantee that Tesla will maintain its 'Thousand Tesla' status.

Musk holds stock options for about 22.86 million shares that will expire if not exercised by August next year, and if he exercises these options, he must pay taxes based on the profit calculated from the stock price at the time of exercise.

Regarding this, Musk posted on Twitter on the 11th, claiming that he sold more shares than the amount of stock options he plans to exercise, stating that this was a measure to maximize tax payments, not to minimize taxes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.