Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has asked his 62.5 million followers on Twitter in a poll if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.
"Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock," Musk wrote in a tweet referring to a "billionaires' tax" proposed by Democrats in the US Senate.
Musk tweeted that he will abide by the results of the poll, whichever way it goes, new outlets said on Sunday.
The poll received more than 2 million responses in seven hours after he posted it, with 56% of respondents approving the proposal to sell the shares.
Musk's shareholding in Tesla comes to about 170.5 million shares as of June 30 and selling 10% of his stock would amount close to $21 billion based on Friday's closing, according to Reuters calculations.
In September, Musk said he is likely to pay taxes of over half the gains he would make from exercising options. He also dismissed the possibility that he would take loans with his Tesla shares as collateral. "Stocks don't always go up. They go down," he said
Some Tesla board members, including his brother Kimbal Musk, offloaded large numbers of shares after Tesla stock hit a record high late October.
Musk recently said on Twitter he'd sell $6 billion in Tesla stock and donate it to the World Food Program (WFP), provided the organization disclosed more information about how it spent its money.
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