Musk sells $5 billion in Tesla stock in response to a Twitter poll

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, sold $5 billion in Tesla stock after his Twitter followers voted in favor of him selling some stock.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc., liquidated $5 billion in stock in the electric-car maker, shortly after reigniting a social media controversy about the tax treatment of billionaires' shareholdings.

According to official documents, the world's richest individual has sold more than 4.5 million shares this week. That was his first sale in almost five years.

Musk, who frequently incites controversy on Twitter, sparked a stir over the weekend by conducting a survey in which he asked whether he should sell a portion of his Tesla ownership. While he framed his proposal as a response to the controversy over billionaires evading taxes, the records made public on Wednesday show that some of the transactions were planned in mid-September, weeks before the poll. He also failed to indicate in his tweets that he had millions of stock options that must be exercised before they expire in August of next year.

The survey resulted in a clear vote for Musk to sell, sending Tesla stock down 16% in the first two days of the week. The stock recovered from its losses on Wednesday, closing up 4.3 percent, and was up 2.5 percent at the start of regular trading on Thursday.