Elon Musk is back in his usual place among the headlines as records of a magnanimous donation made by him comes into light. In what can be considered one of the largest philanthropic donations, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made a donation that is worth $6 billion in Tesla shares. As per the filings, the donation was made sometime around last year. The details of this massive donation came into light thanks to the Security and Exchange Board filings which said that Musk donated almost 5 million Tesla shares last year from the 9th of November to the 19the of November. Although the filing doesn’t reveal the name of the charity, it won’t be an exaggeration to opine that Musk is riding high on goodwill following the news.
The What and Why
The previous year, Musk had locked horns with several politicians including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the conflict often taking offensive tones, over inequality of income and a potential wealth tax. While the politicians heaped blames on the wealthy dodging taxes, Musk retorted rather boldly by saying that he would sell his stock provided that the United Nationals gave actual proof that a total of $6 billion would prove to be a viable solution to curb world hunger. This was also a response to the head of the organization’s World Food Programme, who asked the ones with immense wealth to “step up.” From the looks of it, it seems like Musk is a man who walks the talk.
More than the ethical and moral reasons, a major reason for the massive donation is the fact that it would lead to a reduction of what Musk termed the biggest tax bill in the history of the United States. Another fact to be noted is that a few days prior to the donation, stock sales worth a whopping $16 billion were completed by Musk.
A good majority of Musk’s immense wealth lies in Tesla which has seen quite a few doors of success the past few years. In addition to overtaking Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s valuable automaker in the year 2020, it also joined an exclusive group of elite companies with a trillion-dollar valuation in the month of October.
With a significant increase in his net worth, Musk has faced a string of criticisms from politicians which led him to declare that he will sell off all his material possessions which included his homes and most of his possessions. It seems like the increase in wealth has also increased the potential for magnanimous behavior which is reflected through the actions of Musk Foundation which has become more active over the past year.
