Musk sells $1.1 billion worth of Tesla shares

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold more than $1 billion worth of stock, according to recent financial filings.

A Nov. 11 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed the sale of more than 934,000 Tesla shares worth about $1.1 billion.

Musk sold those shares at an average price of around $1,170, locking in a nearly 180% price gain over the past year. It was Musk's third sale of company stock since Tesla's Nasdaq listing in 2010, and his largest.

Musk plans to sell the stock in September as part of his tax obligations, the documents show. He polled his 63 million followers over the weekend asking if he should sell his 10% stake in Tesla. Nearly 58 percent of the 3.5 million respondents agreed. However, the Tesla CEO sold less than 1% of his stake in the sale and still owns more than 170 million shares.

Responding to the poll, he noted: "I don't receive cash salary or bonuses from anywhere. I only have stock, so the only way I personally pay taxes is by selling stock."

In the days after the poll, Tesla shares fell 16% on Nov. 10, falling below $1,000 at one point. Tesla hit an all-time high of $1,230 on Nov. 4 and is now down about 11% from that peak.

There has been speculation in cryptocurrency circles that he may be putting some of his cash into digital assets. Mr. Whale asks his 357,000 followers: "Which cryptocurrency should he buy to make himself the first trillionaire ever?"

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor advised him to buy more Bitcoin after a Twitter poll but before news of the sale emerged:

"If diversification is the goal, an alternative strategy to consider is to convert Tesla's balance sheet into Bitcoin and buy $25 billion in Bitcoin. This would provide diversification to all investors in a tax-efficient manner. globalization, inflation protection and more advantages.”

Tesla currently holds 43,200 bitcoins, worth an estimated $2.79 billion at current prices, according to BitcoinTreasuries.