Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) are rising today after chief executive Elon Musk said he had sold “enough stock” to reach his plan to sell 10% of his shares and pay an $11 billion (U.S.) tax bill.
The billionaire, who moved the company's headquarters to Texas this month also slammed California for “overtaxation” of the wealthy.
Tesla shares, which had hovered near record-highs, lost about a quarter of their value after Musk said on November 6 that he would sell 10% of his stake in the company he founded.
Earlier this week, Musk sold another 583,611 Tesla shares, bringing the total number of shares he has offloaded to 13.5 million - about 80% of what he had planned to sell.
Out of the 13.5 million shares sold, 8.06 million were sold to pay taxes related to his options exercise, said Musk.
Musk has said that he would pay more than $11 billion U.S. in taxes this year.
Tesla stock is up 3% in today’s premarket on news that Musk is done selling his shares in the company. The share price finished trading Tuesday (December 21) at $938.53 U.S.
