Elon Musk sells almost $5 billion of Tesla shares

Elon Musk has sold almost $5 billion in Tesla stock during a spate of transactions, CNBC first reported Wednesday evening.

Why it matters: The sale follows Musk's posting of an informal poll on Twitter Saturday, asking his followers whether he should sell about 10% of his shares in Tesla and after the company's stock fell 12% on Tuesday.

• While Musk had tweeted that he would "abide by the results" of Saturday's poll on whether to sell about 10% of his shares, financial filings reveal that he knew some of his stock were for sale, per CNBC.
• He sold the stock in an effort to "satisfy tax obligations related to an exercise of stock options," according to CNBC.

The big picture: Bloomberg first reported on Tuesday that Musk had sold over $1.1 billion of Tesla stock.

• Subsequent financial filings to the SEC out Wednesday evening showed that his trust sold over 3.5 million shares valued at roughly $3.88 billion.
• "Those transactions were not marked as 10b5, meaning they were not scheduled sales," CNBC notes.

Of note: A company filing with the SEC shows that Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, dumped shares last Friday, Axios' Kate Marino notes.

• Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include details of Musk's later transactions.