Tesla’s stock jumped sharply on Monday after CEO Elon Musk disclosed a rare open-market purchase of company shares valued at around $1 billion. The move marks Musk’s first direct buy of Tesla stock in more than five years, signaling his renewed confidence in the company during a turbulent year.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made public on Monday, Musk acquired approximately 2.57 million Tesla shares last Friday at prices ranging between $372 and $396 per share, making it his largest insider purchase by dollar value to date.
In comparison, his last significant buy was in February 2020, when he picked up roughly 200,000 shares worth about $10 million. However, an important distinction is that this purchase was a discretionary purchase and outside of a preset trading plan, as it typically the case.
Musk already owns around 13% of Tesla before this latest purchase, but his new stake increases his holdings further.
Musk’s billion-dollar purchase of Tesla shares comes just weeks before Tesla shareholders are set to vote on his proposed 10-year pay package. The plan, defended by Tesla chair Robyn Denholm as rewarding a “generational leader,” could be worth up to $1 trillion depending on the performance targets achieved.
To achieve that, Tesla would have to reach an $8.5 trillion market value, more than six times its current size. The company would also have to deliver 20 million vehicles annually and have deployed one million robotaxis, among other targets.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) surged as much as 7% in early trading Monday, before settling around 5.3% higher ($417) at the time of publication. As of Friday’s close, Tesla carried a market capitalization of about $1.3 trillion.
