Elon Musk’s Donated $5.7 Billion – Where did it go?
Tesla’s CEO secretly announced a large donation but did not specify where it went.
Elon Musk revealed that he gave roughly $6 billion equivalent Tesla shares to charity the previous year in a discreet manner – through a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — catapulting him into the elite echelon of philanthropic benefactors. However, the document provided little data on where Tesla’s CEO utilized his money.
About the donation
According to the filing, Musk contributed just over 5 million shares during November. This is worth almost $5.7 billion depending on the average cost of Tesla shares just on days he sold. As per the Chronicle of Philanthropy, he was the second-largest giver last year, after only Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates’ $15 billion in donating.
Musk gave the gift while he sold billions of dollars worth of stock. He disposed of over $16 billion in stock in November and December, most of it to meet tax bills resulting from stock option exercises. Musk tweeted at the moment that he expected to owe about $11 billion in taxes, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in American history. The stock donation might be able to help with that expense.
Where did the donation go?
The point is, where did all of those shares go? Musk donated while debating wealth inequality and taxes alongside populist lawmakers such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Many observers pointed out that Musk had tweeted weeks before his donation that he would donate $6 billion if the United Nations could show that money can end world hunger. The United Nations’ World Food Program revealed spending $6.6 billion to assist famine a few days later.
Other publicly acknowledged philanthropic endeavours by Musk include millions of dollars in grants to Texas municipalities and a $100 million award for creating carbon dioxide-removal devices.
Musk’s proclivity for being provocative, as well as his massive gift announcements, has made it difficult for the general public to decipher his intentions. Soskis said it’s unclear what Kurganov’s employment and the latest $5.7 billion pledge signify for Musk’s philanthropic prospects.