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This article was originally published on November 01, 2021 12:30am. It was one of the most read articles on Benzinga.com this year.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — said he is ready to sell $6 billion worth of Tesla stock “right now” if a United Nations official could explain how the amount would help solve world hunger.
What Happened: Musk’s comments come just days after the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Director David Beasley told CNN that a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals could help solve world hunger with just a fraction of their net worth.
Beasley specifically urged action from Musk and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos — the world’s two richest men.
Musk took to Twitter on Sunday to respond to a post that highlighted Beasley’s statements as well as noted that the WFP was not able to solve world hunger despite raising $8.4 billion in 2020.
Musk added that the WFP must be willing to engage in open-source accounting to enable the public to see how the $6 billion would be spent.
But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021
Why It Matters: Musk is the world’s richest person with a net worth of $311 billion, followed by Bezos with a net worth of $195 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The growth in Musk’s wealth is due to a surge this year in the stock of Tesla, which last week joined the club of a select few companies valued at more than $1 trillion.
Musk would likely be elevated to trillionaire status by his space venture SpaceX rather than Tesla, it was reported last month, citing Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones.
Nevertheless, the $6 billion amount will be less than 2% of Musk’s current net worth.
The WFP says on its website that it provides assistance to over 115 million people in 84 countries through food or cash distributions in emergencies, nutrition support programs and other activities to build resilience to climate change and other shocks.
Price Action: Tesla shares closed 3.4% higher in Friday’s trading at $1,114.00.
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Photo: Courtesy of Daniel Oberhaus via Flickr
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