Billionaire Elon Musk gave out $5.7 billion worth of Tesla shares to charity in November 2021. This is according to a filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, stating that the donations were made between November 19th and November 29th last year.
The donation occurred as the billionaire battled with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over inequality of taxes and a potential wealth levy. It was during the same period that the director of the United Nations’ food programme David Beasley, stated that billionaires like Musk amassed a lot of wealth without caring about world hunger. Elon Musk, however, responded by saying that he would sell Tesla stock if the United Nations could prove that it would help end world hunger.
Based on the rate of the stock on the day it was donated, the gift was worth $5.7 billion making it one of the largest donations to charity in history. However, some facts about the donation are still unknown as the trust involved in the transaction is not known and the recipient of the gift was also unnamed.
According to a report by Bloomberg last year, the billionaire was liable to pay a tax of almost $10 billion to the Internal Revenue Service and so giving a large gift to charity is a wise business decision as it would help to reduce the amount of taxes that are due to the billionaire.
Regardless of the effect that the donation would have on his taxes, the billionaire through his foundation, The Musk Foundation which he started in 2002, has been donating to various charities. The Billionaire has donated more than $25 million dollars to various causes.
