According to a regulatory filing released on Tuesday, Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and the world’s second-richest person according to Forbes, donated $1.9 billion worth of Tesla stock to a charity last year.
This act of philanthropy involved Musk giving 11.6 million shares to an unnamed charity over the course of several months, starting in August of 2022.
In December of the same year, the billionaire gifted nearly 70% of the shares in just three days.
In addition to his charitable donations, Musk sold at least $22 billion worth of Tesla shares in 2022, which would have resulted in a significant tax burden. By giving away some of the shares to a charity, he can reduce his tax obligations on the profits he earned from selling the shares. Specifically, Musk sold 7.9 million shares worth $6.9 billion in August, followed by 19.5 million shares worth $3.9 billion in November and another 22 million shares worth $3.6 billion in December.
This is not the first time that Musk has given away Tesla shares to charity. In 2021, he donated five million Tesla shares, worth $5.7 billion, to a charitable cause. It is unclear which charities received the donation, as Musk has not yet commented on the matter.
Tesla’s stock has experienced some ups and downs in the past year. In December, a significant market crash resulted in a loss of nearly $900 billion in market valuation.
Although the stock has recovered somewhat and nearly doubled in value since the start of 2022, it is still down 32% from its value a year ago.
Despite this, Musk’s charitable efforts are a noteworthy contribution to various causes, and may inspire other wealthy individuals to consider similar acts of generosity.