(New York) Elon Musk, the whimsical boss of electric vehicle maker Tesla, said on Friday he was considering “resigning” hours after he once again sold shares in the company.
“I’m considering quitting to become a full-time influencer, what do you think? Mr. Musk asked his more than 65 million Twitter followers in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek post that received 237,000 likes.
In addition to leading Tesla, Mr. Musk is CEO of exploration company SpaceX, which he founded in 2002.
The day before his tweet, the richest man in the world had shed just over 934,000 Tesla shares, according to documents filed with the US stock market regulator, the SEC.
This represents a total of approximately $ 963 million.
The billionaire entrepreneur also exercised his right to repurchase 2.2 million stock options at a price of $ 6.24 per share.
Mr Musk launched a Twitter poll in November to find out whether or not he should sell 10% of his shares in the company. A majority of voters said they were in favor.
Several observers then noticed that part of the money from the sale would probably be used by the boss of Tesla to pay his taxes.
Mr. Musk has sold more than 11 million Tesla shares since the poll results. He will reach the 10% threshold mentioned on Twitter if he sells 6 million more.
On Wall Street, Tesla’s stock fell 0.8% to $ 996 in pre-opening electronic trading.