Tesla CEO Elon Mots made a substantial charitable donation just before the New Year. He donated 268,000 Tesla Shares, worth approximately $108 Million, to charities that were not named, as reported by Reuters.
The philanthropic act, which was framed in the context of “year-end taxes planning,” is consistent with similar gifts made by him over previous years. This indicates a strategy that uses stock for charitable purposes.
Tax planning and philanthropy
According to the filing, Musk has donated his stock and money to “certain charities,” which have no intention of selling it at this time. This suggests a long-term focus on philanthropy.
Musk made similar donations in 2022 when he gave Tesla shares valued at $1.95 billion and in 2021 when he donated $5.74 billion for his non-profit, The Musk Foundation.
According to the website of The Musk Foundation where Musk is president, it grants money to various causes including, “the development and safe use artificial intelligence for humanity.”
Musk is currently ranked the richest man in the world, according to Forbes. His net worth stands at $408,3 billion. He did not respond immediately to Reuters’ request for comment about the most recent donation.
Tesla sales numbers: mixed results
The timing of this charitable gift is a good one, as Tesla’s performance in the sales department has been under fire.
The fourth-quarter global sales of the electric vehicle company rose by 2.3%, but this followed a slow start to the calendar year that contributed to its first sales drop since 2015.
Austin, Texas’s company saw its annual sales decline despite offers like 0% financing and free charging.
Tesla has delivered 495 570 cars from October to December. This brings the total number of deliveries for this year up to 1,79 million.
This was still 1.1% less than the 1.81 million electric vehicle sales expected in 2023, which indicates a global and US slowdown of demand.
Tesla performance: Factors that affect it
FactSet polled analysts who expected Tesla’s sales average to drop to $41,000 for the fourth quarter, the lowest level in four years.
Tesla is scheduled to announce its fourth quarter earnings on the 29th of January.
Tesla predicted a 50% growth in annual sales, but it has been unable to keep up with this rate due to an older model line-up and increasing competition from competitors across the globe, including China, Europe and the US
Early adopters are now largely saturated in the US. Meanwhile, mainstream buyers still have concerns over range, cost, and charging stations for longer trips.
Tesla’s tightrope walking
Tesla shares dropped by 5.2% on early trading Thursday, even though they were up by more than 50 percent in the past 12 months. This was a result of Donald Trump’s election win.
Automakers were forced to offer unprecedented discounts due to the falling sales in early 2018. This impacted their industry-leading margins.
The company is facing increasing competition from established automakers and newer ones, which threatens its market share.
Tesla sold the majority of their more affordable Models 3 & Y. Only 23,640 of the company’s more expensive models were purchased, such as the X, S and new Cybertruck.
Tesla is up against stiff competition to take the number one spot. While BYD announced a 41 percent increase in EVs sales last year (1.77 million), Tesla has beaten its Chinese competitor.
The fourth-quarter production, at 459,445 cars, was lower than total sales for the quarter. And the full-year production, 1,77 million vehicles, was also less.
The post Musk donates $100M in Tesla Stock to Unknown Charities, Filing Confirms could be updated as new information unfolds
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