Elon Musk gives $5.7 billion to charity
The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has donated roughly $6 billion worth of Tesla stock to charity. The donation of 5,044,000 shares was made between November 19 and November 29, according to a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing, revealed on Monday, doesn’t disclose the recipient or recipients of the shares.
Last October, Musk was challenged by the director of the UN World Food Program (WFP) to make a donation that would help solve world hunger.
Musk had pledged on social media to sell Tesla stock and donate $6 billion to the WFP if the organization could “describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger.” The executive director of the program, David Beasley, responded with a proposal two weeks later, and Musk began transferring shares to a charity several days after that.
At the time, the billionaire was selling millions of shares in preparation for a large tax bill, while also exercising options for shares at much lower prices. Even with the gifted shares disclosed in Monday’s filing, Musk holds nearly two million more shares than he owned when he began selling the stock.
At the time of donations, Tesla’s stock was trading above $1,000 per share. The $5.7 billion donation became one of the biggest in history. The most generous donation was provided by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, who gave $15 billion in an annual ranking by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2021.
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