Three Tesla insiders, including Elon Musk’s own brother, are preparing to sell about $300 million worth of Tesla (TSLA) stocks.
In Tesla’s 10Q SEC filing, the automaker disclosed that three of its board members, including chairwoman Robyn Denholm and Kimball Musk, CEO Elon Musk’s brother, have signed new arrangements to sell a lot of shares last quarter:
- On July 25, 2024, Robyn Denholm, one of our directors, adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement for the potential sale of up to 674,345 shares of our common stock (all resulting from stock options expiring in June 2025), subject to certain conditions. The arrangement’s expiration date is June 18, 2025.
- On July 31, 2024, Kimbal Musk, one of our directors, adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement for the potential sale of up to 152,088 shares of our common stock, subject to certain conditions. The arrangement’s expiration date is May 30, 2025.
- On August 12, 2024, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, one of our directors, adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement for the potential sale of up to 300,000 shares of our common stock, subject to certain conditions. The arrangement’s expiration date is February 28, 2025.
At the current price of ~$260 per share, Denholm’s planned potential sale of Tesla’s stock would be worth $175 million.
Kimball Musk’s 152,000 shares would be worth just short of $40 million, while Wilson-Thompson’s arrangement would allow her to sell about $78 million.
Denholm held only 85,000 Tesla shares as of her last report, but as the disclosure specifies, she is exercising stock options.
Tesla’s board members have received excessive compensation from shareholders, according to a lawsuit.
Top comment by Mike Dolan
What would you have them do? They have taxes due on non-cash compensation, they truly have no idea what the price is going to be 90 days after they set up the agreement (the market can do wild things on any given day).
They are taking "timing the market" out of the equation. The SEC set up the rule for exactly this purpose - allow a highly compensated officer or director to reduce their holdings without using inside information.
What would you have them do?
Last year, Tesla’s board members settled the lawsuit by agreeing to return over $700 million in cash and stock.
Electrek’s Take
It’s wild that they had to return over $700 million, yet three of them can still sell about $300 million worth of stock.
It’s also important to note that this situation also plays into the ongoing legal battle over Elon’s CEO compensation. A judge find it unlawful because, amongst other reasons, he was in control of the board when the deal was “negotiated”.
At the same time that they gave Elon’s $44 billion package, they also gave themselves this excessive board compensation.
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