Elon Musk donate roughly $ 5.7 billion in portion of Tesla to an unnamed charity deep last year , accord tonew filingswith the SEC and a report from theWall Street Journal . But one big interrogative sentence remains : Who got the money ?
properly around the same metre as his newly publicized charitable donation in late 2021 , Musk deal about $ 16 billion Charles Frederick Worth of Tesla stock , something he claimed would make one of the largest tax bills in account for the billionaire . But the revelation of Musk ’s magnanimous charitable contribution might deepen that , impart the fact that money pass on to many brotherly love can be written off at tax time .
The $ 5.7 billion in donations were made in five payments between November 19 and November 29 , 2021 , according to the SEC documents , and facilitated by a trust . contribution of inventory are assess for the IRS based on their worth at the sentence of donation , but that same $ 5.7 billion Charles Frederick Worth of stock is only worth about $ 4.4 billion today give Tesla ’s plunging inventory monetary value .
Elon Musk during a press conference at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on 5 March 2025.Photo: Jim Watson / AFP (Getty Images)
The two most likely candidates for Musk ’s donations are the billionaire ’s personal charity foundation , and the United Nations World Food Program — the latter of which made headlines in late October when its director said Musk could keep open 42 million people from starvation with just2 % of his riches .
“ The governments are tapped out . This is when the billionaires require to step up now on a one - sentence basis—$6 billion to help 42 million hoi polloi that are literally last to die if we do n’t get to them . It ’s not complicated , ” UN executive director for the World Food Program , David Beasley , severalise CNN at the prison term .
Musk replied on social media that he ’d donate to the broadcast if it could solve world thirstiness for good , something that Beasley never claimed could be done with a one - off donation . But the World Food Program declined to recount news organizations if Musk has made any donation .
The other likely potential recipient of Musk ’s money is his own understructure , which was typeset up in 2002 . The Musk Foundation awards grants for thing like renewable energy research and artificial intelligence development , among other things , though the design of its website is almostlaughably badand Musk has been incredibly scrimpy about throw money to his own charityin the past .
But , again , wherever he put his money , this is likely to countervail Musk ’s tax bill for 2021 , according to theWall Street Journal :
Donations of comprehended stock are particularly attractive for loaded people . The forgone capital gains are n’t tax . The time value of the parentage is a charitable deduction , subject to limits . And the stock comes out of the someone ’s nonexempt estate .
Elon Musk is currently worth about $ 242 billion , according to Forbes , making him the wealthy person on the planet . Amazon ’s Jeff Bezos , the secondly wealthiest , is currently worth about $ 179 billion .
Elon MuskForbesJeff BezosLeadersSpaceX Mars programTESLATesla , Inc.
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