Tesla board member sells shares worth $200 million after stock bump -filings

[October 30, 2021]    By Nivedita Balu and Hyunjoo Jin
 
 BANGALORE/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Tesla Inc board member sold shares of the electric carmaker worth more than $200 million on Wednesday, after the stock crossed the $1,000 mark for the first time to hit a record, according to filings and Reuters' calculation.

A Tesla logo is seen at the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

Tesla became the fifth company to hit the trillion-dollar benchmark on Monday following a deal with rental car company Hertz and after it recorded its best quarterly revenue and profits.

Ira Ehrenpreis, an independent director on Tesla board, exercised options to buy 370,000 shares at about $50 each on Wednesday before their expiration in June next year, filings with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission showed.

He then sold 203,429 shares for as high as $1,068.38 a pop, leading to gains of about $214 million, according to the filings and Reuters' calculation.

Ehrenpreis, a venture capitalist who has been a member of the Tesla board since May 2007, has received stock options on a total of 740,000 stocks as of the end of 2020, according to another filing.

He is one of the board members, including Chief Executive Elon Musk who stand to reap windfall gains from Tesla's stock rallies, with a large number of stocks and stock options.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bangalore and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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