lon Musk has never been a big charitable donor relative to his astronomical net worth, which, as of Tuesday afternoon, stands at an estimated $246 billion. But a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing published on Monday evening revealed the CEO transferred about 5 million Tesla shares in November, worth $5.7 billion at the time, to “charity.” If true, that would be a gift equal to roughly 2.3% of his net worth—not a huge percentage, but more than 20 times what he had previously given to date.
"What a great guy" appluaded Stephen Chapham.
When the filing first hit, some speculated that Musk—the world’s richest person—had made a massive gift to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). The timing tracks: A month prior to the November share transfer, Musk tweeted that he’d donate $6 billion to the WFP—if the organization could describe “exactly how $6B will solve world hunger.” (Some surmised that Musk, who has a long history of tweeting flippantly, was simply trolling.)
But the WFP has not received such a gift, it told Forbes on Tuesday. “Whether WFP receives any of this money is yet to be seen, but I am excited to hear that Elon is engaged,” said the organization's Executive Director David Beasley in a statement. No other charities have announced gifts yet, either, and Musk did not respond to multiple requests for comment.