Please generate a unique news story that I can publish on my site Elon Musk’s influence extends to US government agencies
The world’s richest man sold 5,044,000 shares of Tesla between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29 and donated them to charity, according to the SEC.
Where in the world did Elon Musk donate those $6 billion?
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Tesla CEO donated about $5.74 billion to charity during a stock sell-off in November.
Musk, 50, sold 5,044,000 shares of Tesla (then trading at more than $1,060) between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29, with the money donated to charity, according to an SEC filing.
Although it is one of the largest donations to charity ever recorded, details about where the money went are unclear.
The SEC filing does not disclose information about a potential recipient, and Musk has remained silent on who received the donation.
We know that Musk has dumped $16.4 billion worth of stock (10 percent of his total stake in Tesla) since November.
In a recent interview, he said it was to cover taxes that would be levied on options that expire next year.
But the timing of the recent donation mysteriously coincides with an interaction between Musk and a foundation, which could indicate where it will ultimately end up. Or not.
In late October, David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme, called on the world’s billionaires (specifically mentioning Musk and Jeff Bezos) to step up and donate a small fraction of their net worth to help solve world hunger.
In an interview with CNN, Beasley said all that was needed was “$6 billion to help 42 million people who are literally going to die if we don’t get to them. It’s not complicated.”
For Musk, $6 billion represents just over 2 percent of his $244.5 billion fortune (at the time of this article).
So on October 31, the Twitter-loving mogul took to his favorite platform and said that if the WFP could explain how $6 billion would solve world hunger in his Twitter thread, he would sell Tesla stock immediately and donate.
Beasley responded to Musk to clarify that $6 billion would not solve world hunger, but it would prevent a number of factors such as geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people from starvation.
On Nov. 15, just four days before Musk’s first donation on Nov. 19, Beasley tweeted additional details about the United Nations’ $6.6 billion famine relief effort in 43 countries. Musk did not respond publicly this time.
On Tuesday, Beasley issued a statement to ABC News saying the WFP had not yet received a donation from Musk.
“There are millions of people around the world on the brink of starvation. Whether WFP will receive any of this money remains to be seen, but I am thrilled to hear that Elon is committed. This is an amazing and excellent first step,” Beasley said.
(Austin – Texas, 11/15/2021) Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria during the meeting with Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. Photos: Cléverson Oliveira/Mcom
Both the WFP and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Robb Report.
Musk has donated millions to various entities in the past, including $30 million to municipalities in Texas, where the billionaire’s aerospace company SpaceX operates.
It also launched XPRIZE Carbon Removal, a competition inviting “innovators and teams from around the world to create and demonstrate solutions that can extract carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.” The winning proposal will receive a $100 million prize.
It may not yet be clear who will receive Musk’s $6 billion donation, but one thing is certain: any charity that receives it will likely put it to good use.
