Elon Musk could sell 10% of Tesla stake following Twitter poll

Billionaire Elon Musk could sell 10 per cent of his stake in electric-car manufacturer Tesla, following the results of a Twitter poll.

Mr Musk, one of the world’s richest men, asked his 62.5 million Twitter followers whether he should sell part of his stake – worth $21 billion (€18 billion) – with almost 58 per cent saying he should.

Following the result, the eccentric billionaire said he had been prepared to accept either outcome.

The poll result caused Tesla Inc’s Frankfurt-listed shares to fall about nine per cent on Monday.

Mr Musk’s poll comes in the wake of a move by US Senate Democrats to tax billionaires’ stocks and other tradeable assets to help fund President Joe Biden’s social spending program, and close a loophole that has allowed them to put off paying capital gains taxes indefinitely.

Tesla exceeded a trillion dollars in market capitalisation late in October, becoming the fifth US company to join an elite club that includes Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet (Google).