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Electrek reports Musk exercised his full 2018 Tesla award for 303.96M shares on June 16 per Tesla's June 17 SEC Form 4; stock closed at $404.66 that day.

1 caveat
  • ▲Filing shows ~17.5M shares withheld for net settlement to cover exercise cost, contradicting the article's claim of no dispositions.
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Home/Tech/Musk Completes Exercise of 2018 Tesla Compensation Award for $116 Billion Unrealized Gain
VERIFIEDBy Xavier Rivera· ·1.5 min read

Musk Completes Exercise of 2018 Tesla Compensation Award for $116 Billion Unrealized Gain

Elon Musk has exercised the full 2018 Tesla CEO compensation award, securing 303,960,630 shares for an approximate $116 billion paper gain according to an SEC filing. No shares were sold during the transaction and the acquired stock remains restricted until 2028.

Source:Electrek
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Musk Completes Exercise of 2018 Tesla Compensation Award for $116 Billion Unrealized Gain
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TL;DRAI · 60 sec read

Elon Musk completed the exercise of his 2018 Tesla CEO compensation award. He obtained 303,960,630 shares at a split-adjusted exercise price of 23.34 dollars, generating a 116 billion dollar unrealized gain based on the closing price that day. Musk retained every share and sold none to cover costs. The shares stay restricted until 2028.

Elon Musk has now fully exercised the performance-based award granted as his 2018 Tesla CEO compensation, obtaining 303,960,630 shares that delivered an approximate $116 billion paper profit, a new SEC filing shows.

Tesla discloses the option exercise in regulatory filings. The company submitted a Form 4 along with an amended Schedule 13G to the SEC on June 17, each detailing activity that occurred on June 16, 2026.
All shares acquired through the award stay restricted until 2028.
Musk converted options covering 303,960,630 shares with a split-adjusted exercise price of $23.34. Tesla shares ended that session at $404.66, producing a per-share spread of $381.32.

No shares were sold to cover the exercise. According to the documents, Musk retained every share received in the transaction and did not dispose of any to fund the exercise.
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All shares acquired through the award stay restricted until 2028. This arrangement keeps the stake from the original performance-tied grant unavailable for sale in the near term.
At prevailing valuations the award creates major unrealized value while avoiding an immediate tax obligation that would arise from a sale.
The 2018 package tied compensation to aggressive market-cap and operational targets. The latest disclosure verifies that Musk has now exercised the full award, which was originally issued after Tesla achieved the required valuation and operational hurdles across several years.

The paper gain equals the gap between the strike price and the market price on the exercise date. At prevailing valuations the award creates major unrealized value while avoiding an immediate tax obligation that would arise from a sale.
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Tesla's stock performance since the original grant has driven the outsized outcome. The June 16 closing price represents more than a 17-fold increase from the split-adjusted strike.
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