Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk donated about $5.7 billion worth of company shares to charity in November 2021, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
From November 19 to 29, Musk donated a total of 5.044 million shares of stock to an unnamed organization. The total value of the share, based on Tesla quotes at that time, was $5.74 billion, according to Reuters.
Institute of Policy Research Fellow and tax policy specialist Bob Lord suggested to the agency that Musk would reap significant tax benefits from the donation. Specifically, he will save between 40% and 50% of $5.7 billion in tax, depending on whether he can take advantage of the California income deduction and avoid the income tax that must be paid when selling shares, he said. Shares donated to charity are not subject to capital gains tax.
In the last two months of last year, the entrepreneur sold about $16.4 billion worth of Tesla paper. He also exercised options to call 22.9 million stock options. The businessman reported that in 2021 he would have to pay more than $11 billion in taxes.
Shortly before the share donation, in October 2021, Musk promised to sell $6 billion worth of shares in the company and allocate these funds to the World Food Program if UN officials explained to him how this amount would help solve the problem of world hunger. This came after program executive director David Beasley said $6 billion would help save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.