Two Tesla board members disclosed plans to sell nearly $200 million worth of stock after exercising options, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from Tuesday.
Ira Ehrenpreis, who has served on Tesla’s board since 2007 and currently chairs the company’s Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees, exercised options to acquire 477,572 shares.
They were then sold for a total value of approximately $162 million.
Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother and also a board member, similarly exercised options to acquire 91,588 shares and sold them on the same day, with proceeds totaling about $31 million .
In February, Kimbal Musk had also sold 75,000 shares, worth around $27.6 million at the time, according to previous filings.
Alexandra Merz, one of the most well-known Tesla shareholders on X, wrote late Tuesday that the sale is “part of the settlement in the Police & Fire Retirement System of Detroit lawsuit.”
“I think when 2+ Directors execute on the same day, it’s part of the settlement in the Police & Fire Retirement System of Detroit lawsuit. -> So these are going back to Tesla, i.e. you and me,” Merz wrote referring to the company’s shareholders.
Tesla shares have surged nearly 25% in the past three months and have more than doubled over the past year. The stock closed at $362.89 on Tuesday.
Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm separately filed to sell 112,930 shares beginning April 29 under a prearranged trading plan, with an estimated market value of $32.1 million.
That followed additional sales of 225,860 shares in March and over 112,000 shares in February, bringing her total reported sales for the period to approximately $76 million.
Denholm has been on the board since 2014 and became chair in 2018 as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators that required Elon Musk to step down from the role.
Earlier this month, Tesla named Jack Hartung, former CFO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, to its board, effective June 1, amid continued investor scrutiny over the company’s corporate governance.
