Tesla CEO Elon Musk has purchased nearly $1 billion worth of Tesla shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), sending the electric carmaker’s stock up by six percent on Monday.
The filing shows Musk acquired 2.57 million shares on Friday at prices ranging from $371 to $396 each. The move comes just weeks after Tesla unveiled a proposed compensation package for Musk that could be worth more than $1 trillion, contingent on him meeting ambitious growth targets tied to emerging technologies.
Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, a close ally of Musk, has defended the package in recent interviews. “He is a generational leader,” she told Bloomberg TV on Friday. “There aren’t any other people out there like Elon who can actually lead the company over the next decade or so.”
The plan could give Musk up to 12 percent additional ownership in Tesla, but only if the company achieves a market capitalization of at least $8.5 trillion by 2035. Shareholders are set to vote on the proposal in November.
The announcement comes as Tesla is appealing a Delaware court ruling that struck down Musk’s previous 2018 compensation deal valued at $55.8 billion.
Tesla’s current market capitalization stands at just over $1 trillion, down from previous highs amid weaker earnings and backlash over Musk’s political stances, which analysts say have weighed on sales in major markets.
