Elon Musk donated 5 million shares of Tesla discretely to an unnamed charity back in 2021, at the time worth over $5.7 billion.
Neither Musk or Tesla made any announcement about the donation. A Securities and Exchange Commission Form 5 Filing (SEC filing) revealed the donation of 5,044,000 TSLA shares, which happened November last year. According to the filing, the shares “represent a bona fide gift of the Issuer’s common stock by the Reporting Person to charity.”
While the receiving charity remains unknown, rumors abound. Many people have remembered a public conversation last October between the United Nations World Food Program director, David Beasley, and the Tesla CEO. Beasley claimed in an interview with CNN that a fraction of Musk’s net worth ($289 billion at the time), could feed every food-insecure person in the world.
Musk responded to the claim by saying that if the World Food Program could work out how to “end world hunger” with $6 billion, he would donate all his TSLA shares. And on twitter, Beasley said they were ready to talk about their “clear plan” to end famine in 2022, proving a link to a comprehensive report of the plan. It would feed more than 42 million people, and included all expenses of production, storage, and delivery, as well as providing funded vouchers for local food programs the world over.
While this theory appears to have legs, David Beasley is as in the dark as the rest of us over where Elon Musk donated these shares.
“There are millions of people around the world on the brink of starvation. Whether WFP receives any of this money is yet to be seen, but I am excited to hear that Elon is engaged. This is an amazing and great first step,” Beasley said in a statement on Tuesday.
Another likely recipient is Musk’s own charity, the Musk Foundation, which makes grants for pediatric research and science education.
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