Elon Musk to Sell Tesla Stock and Donate $6B to End World Hunger

On Oct. 26, David Beasley, the director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), suggested that a small group of ultra-rich people could help end world hunger with a fraction of their money. Beasley specifically cited the world's two richest men, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, as examples of how the wealthy need to make a one-time contribution.

Musk is the CEO of the electric-vehicle firm Tesla, which was just added to the list of companies worth more than $1 trillion. On Oct. 31, Musk challenged Beasley’s claim that a small portion of his fortune might help end world hunger.

According to the Bloomberg index, Musk, the co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has added $122.3 billion to his fortune this year, which brings his net worth to $311 billion. He's the first person to achieve such a huge fortune. The difference in wealth between Musk and the world's second-richest person, Bezos, is $116 billion. Bezos's net worth is $195 billion currently.

Musk is known for investing in risky businesses, including electric vehicles and space rockets, both of which appeared like science fiction at the time. Musk holds around 24 percent of Tesla's outstanding shares and 43 percent of privately owned SpaceX. He has very rarely sold Tesla stock, whose shares hit a record high of $1,114 on Oct. 29. His fortune has also risen as a result of his investment in SpaceX, a private space-exploration corporation valued at almost $100 billion last month.

SpaceX sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020. The company’s private flights into orbit could generate many more millions for Musk. Musk has pledged a significant portion of his ownership in Tesla as collateral for loans. While Musk is the richest person worldwide, he's short on cash. He keeps borrowing more to meet daily expenses and business investments.

Musk has agreed to sell his Tesla stock and donate $6 billion to end world hunger. This comes in response to Beasley’s tweet stating that just $6 billion could keep 42 million people from dying. Beasley noted that Musk’s net worth increased by $36 billion after Hertz ordered 100,000 Tesla vehicles. Musk agreed to give his money but has a condition that WFP must demonstrate how its accounting is done. Meanwhile, Beasley has invited Musk for a conversation on the same topic.

Musk's actions aren't exactly what’s often related to a "socialist." For example, Tesla is the only major automaker that doesn’t have a labor union. He opposed the second round of the economic stimulus package.

Earlier, Musk criticized attempts to tax the assets of billionaires like him. He said that a tax on billionaires’ money wouldn’t ease the national debt burden. Musk argued that the focus should be on government expenditures. He also stated that a billionaire tax would only be the beginning of taxes on the merely rich.