Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, offloaded 583,611 more shares worth $528 million in the electric vehicle maker, as he comes nearer to meeting the pledge he made to sell 10 per cent of his stake in the EV pioneer amid criticism that he isn't paying enough taxes.
Mr Musk, the world's richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with $245 billion as of Wednesday, has now disposed about 13.5 million shares worth around $14.1bn, according to regulatory filings. He is now three quarters of the way towards meeting his pledge, and needs to sell about 17 million more shares to fulfil it, assuming this does not include exercisable options.
The latest share sale comes after Mr Musk sold 934,091 Tesla shares worth around $906.5m. That move, however, cost the carmaker its $1 trillion market capitalisation status, the first time it went below the mark since October 25.
As of Wednesday morning, California-based Tesla's market cap is at almost $917bn.
On November 24, Mr Musk sold 934,091 shares for $1.05bn, after a few days' break, while also exercising 2.15 million stock options.
The billionaire has been offloading his shares in Tesla after he conducted a Twitter poll amongst his more than 67.2 million followers on whether he should sell some of his stake in the carmaker.
Mr Musk first revealed his plans to sell shares at the 2021 Code Conference in September. In the same month, he established a pre-arranged trading plan to carry out “an orderly sale of shares related to the exercise of stock options”, filings show. The Twitter poll did not disclose the existence of that plan.
His offloading of shares comes as he counters US Democrats' “billionaires' tax”, which seeks contributions from America's most affluent by taxing their “tradable assets”. The proposed tax is expected to help fund US President Joe Biden’s ambitious social policy and climate change legislation.
Last week, Mr Musk faced the ire of US senator Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted saying that he should pay taxes instead of "freeloading off everyone else". Mr Musk responded saying that he "will pay more taxes than any American in history this year".
On Monday, he tweeted that he would be paying $11bn in taxes in 2021.
Mr Musk, a prolific tweeter whose posts notoriously move the share prices of cryptocurrencies and do not always amuse regulators, even found time to joke about “quitting my jobs” amid his share sale spree.
Time magazine named Mr Musk as its Person of the Year on December 13.
Tesla posted its largest quarterly net profit, driven by a record number of deliveries despite a global semiconductor shortage and supply chain disruptions in its fiscal third quarter ending September
Profit jumped about 389 per cent to $1.6bn, almost $1.3bn more than the income earned in the same period a year ago. It was the ninth straight profitable quarter and the second consecutive three-month period with more than $1bn profit for the company. Revenue rose 57 per cent to nearly $13.8bn, exceeding analysts’ expectations, the fourth time in a row it reported $10bn or more in sales.
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES
Mar 10: Norwich(A)
Mar 13: Newcastle(H)
Mar 16: Lille(A)
Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)
Apr 2: Brentford(H)
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
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THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
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Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Company%20profile
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How Sputnik V works
