Elon Musk is known for his chaotic social media presence and he lived up to this reputation when he decided to let his 62.8m followers decide whether or not he should sell 10 per cent of his Tesla stock.
In a tweet on Saturday, as Democrat senators proposed a “billionaires tax”, Musk wrote: “Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10 per cent of my Tesla stock.”
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1636226269
“Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere,” Musk added in a follow-up tweet. “I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”
This means he has no earnings on which to pay income tax.
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I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1636226591
Musk couldn’t help but notice a glaring Joe Biden pun and additionally tweeted: “*abide(n).”
* abide(n)— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1636227034
Obviously, Musk’s followers had plenty to say about the proposal and made their voice heard in the votes as over 3.5m people in total voted in the poll choosing “Yes” or “No” as to whether they support the Space X and Tesla CEO selling a portion of his stock.
The campaign group for progressive Democrat senator Bernie Sanders made their feelings pretty clear.
vote yes. https://t.co/hZCfxw6DOW— People for Bernie (@People for Bernie) 1636239738
Meanwhile, Democrat US senator Ron Wyden criticised Elon’s latest Twitter stunt and tweeted: “Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.”
He added: “It’s time for the Billionaires Income Tax.”
Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.… https://t.co/AoL9ZkJVds— Ron Wyden (@Ron Wyden) 1636237112
Though Wyden’s response seemed to rub the world’s richest man up the wrong way as Musk then replied trolling the senator with a NFSW response:
@RonWyden Why does ur pp look like u just came?— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1636329442
YouTuber Mr Beast found the idea of a Twitter poll deciding “the fate of $20,000,000,000+” pretty funny.
Many others also shared their thought’s of Musk’s Twitter poll.
I don't think that crypto twitter should be in control of a decision like this, but who the hell am I to say anythi… https://t.co/ozCcqzrolt— DeFi Analyst (@DeFi Analyst) 1636342148
One of the craziest things on the internet! If this guy is serious, a twitter poll decides what happens to about $2… https://t.co/aqpuoSvhmC— Vi Jain (@Vi Jain) 1636267867
putting this in my resume "helped Elon Musk make a decision involving $20b+ worth of stock" https://t.co/kCbJPukEG8— Tina Gurnaney (@Tina Gurnaney) 1636257835
Elon is playing Squid Game 💥 #ElonMusk #SquidGame https://t.co/J5sO534l5e— Lok Kal (@Lok Kal) 1636266139
He really put $20bn+ on the line. Rich people problems🥱 https://t.co/uVUmHNAcRc— Ishraq (@Ishraq) 1636285168
This is the 2021 version of ‘taking the company private at 420’ https://t.co/kPTscYcaNO— Ahmed ⚡️ (@Ahmed ⚡️) 1636238271
Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.… https://t.co/AoL9ZkJVds— Ron Wyden (@Ron Wyden) 1636237112
Well, it looks like Musk has some selling to do after the results from the poll show that 57.9 per cent of people voted “Yes” in favour of Musk selling his stock, while 42.1 per cent said “No” against the billionaire selling some of his shares.
So how much would 10 per cent of Musk’s Tesla stock be worth?
Musk’s shares amount to 170.5 million as of June 30, therefore selling 10 per cent of this would amount close to $21bn based on Friday’s closing, according to calculations made by Reuters.
Meanwhile some were convinced that Elon wanted to sell the stock in the first place but with the Twitter poll has made it look like it was the public’s decision.
Recently, Musk’s brother Kimbal along with other Tesla board member sold some of their Tesla shares - Kimbal sold 88,500 and board member Ira Ehrenpreis sold shares worth more than $200 million, The Guardian reported.
If I wanted to sell some of my company’s stock while minimizing the fallout… this would be a pretty good way to do… https://t.co/yOxCIWr4F0— Nathan Baschez (@Nathan Baschez) 1636234220
Absolutely brilliant PR play here. He was gonna sell anyway, but he's turned it into "your" decision. https://t.co/3qST3USsdB— Horselover Fat 🧙♂️ (@Horselover Fat 🧙♂️) 1636233253
Probably needs to money, smart https://t.co/AaV2ogYumv— Robert Reynolds (@Robert Reynolds) 1636230004
😕 Everyone realises that @elonmusk is beyond desperate to sell some of his $TSLA stock at these obscene levels, but… https://t.co/9tLow1IVqn— PiQ (@PiQ ) 1636301862
Most creative way I have seen an insider disguise the selling of overvalued stock. Hats off, Elon. https://t.co/d8E6ymCt1i— Adam Clark (@Adam Clark) 1636315018
When asked if the poll outcome turned out the way he wanted, Musk didn’t give much away, and said he was “prepared to accept either outcome.”
@Emmett__Osborne @WholeMarsBlog I was prepared to accept either outcome— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1636313176
It’s not the first time Musk has caused a stir on Twitter.
The 50-year-old claimed that he would sell $6bn of Tesla stock and donate it to the UN’s World Food Programme, if they could show how exactly how the money would be able to solve world hunger.