ELON MUSK’S social media followers have spoken: The Tesla Inc. chief should sell 10 percent of his stake in the U.S. electric-car maker.

A majority of 3.5 million Twitter users said they’d support the move in a poll that Musk launched Saturday when he floated the idea of selling the stock, which is valued at about US$21 billion based on 170.5 million Tesla shares he holds. Musk had said he would “abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.”

The poll closed shortly after 2:15 p.m. Sunday in New York, with about 58 percent of respondents backing the idea of the sale.

The crowd-sourcing exercise is the latest example of Musk’s long history of using Twitter and his legions of fans on the platform to stoke interest in his company, sometimes pushing the envelope with tongue-in-cheek tweets.

The world’s richest person proposed the move in a tweet, citing recent discussions about the ultra-wealthy hoarding unrealized gains to avoid paying taxes. Musk doesn’t take a salary, but has to pay taxes on any stock options that he exercises.

While large sales by insiders are often seen as a negative signal, a sale of this size won’t alter Tesla’s story in a meaningful way, said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

Demand remains high for Tesla shares among both institutional and retail investors, he said. The unorthodox step of getting buy-in from fans and investors via a poll may also ease any concerns.

“Selling 10 percent is probably going to add 1.5 percent to 2 percent to the float, so it doesn’t really significantly move the needle,” Ives said.

“I do believe that him doing it in this way definitely would soften the blow and would help the perception as well.”

Tesla’s stock has soared 73 percent this year to US$1,222.09, giving it a valuation of US$1.2 trillion as of Nov. 5. The number of shares that Musk, its chief executive officer and largest shareholder, could be set to offload is equivalent to 80 percent of Tesla’s average daily trading volume in the past three months.

The amount of stock Musk may potentially sell would be even greater if his options are included.

Musk’s fortune stands at US$338 billion. About one-quarter of that consists of Tesla stock options that he’s free to exercise at any time. The securities come from two big awards he received in 2012 and 2018. The older contracts expire in August next year. (SD-Agencies)