Elon Musk sells Tesla shares – and world food chief recalls a promise

Billions in share sales
Elon Musk sells more Tesla shares – and the world food chief reminds him of a promise

Is Elon Musk really using his billions to defeat hunger in the world? The head of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley, reminded him of this promise and thus continued his Twitter exchange with the richest man in the world.

Two weeks ago, Beasley said two percent of Musk’s fortune – about $ 6 billion – would be enough to save 42 million people worldwide from starvation. He asked the billionaire to donate the sum. Musk countered that if the UN World Food Program told him on Twitter exactly how $ 6 billion could solve the hunger problem, “I’ll sell Tesla stock and do it right away.”

Beasley has now come back to that. “The hunger crisis is urgent, unprecedented and preventable,” wrote Beasley. “@elonmusk, you asked for a clear plan and open books. Here it is! We are ready to speak to you – and anyone else – serious about saving lives.” He also linked a page on which the UN organization explains how and where it would use $ 6.6 billion to combat the acute famine in the world.

According to this, 3.5 billion should be put directly into food and its delivery, 2 billion flowed into monetary support and food vouchers, 700 million into other country-specific programs and 400 million into the coordination and administration of the whole.

Elon Musk makes billions selling stocks

In any case, Musk would have the money he needed on hand. After he had Twitter users vote whether he should sell ten percent of his Tesla shares, he is currently cashing in on Tesla shares on a large scale. At the beginning of this week, he again sold Tesla papers worth billions. Since last week, he has made a total of $ 8.8 billion in stock sales – and the sales plan he set is probably only halfway through.

However, the Tesla founder has other things in mind with the money than coping with the hunger crisis. As part of the Twitter poll, he said that selling stocks is the only way he can pay taxes because he doesn’t have a regular salary. He can also use the money to redeem stock options and pay related tax claims. Due to regulations in his compensation agreement, Musk currently has the option of buying Tesla shares well below their value. He has to pay tax on the difference to the actual rate.

In the US there was recently a debate about a possible “billionaire tax” to oblige the super-rich to pay higher taxes (more on this here).

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