Text: Xiao Yu
At the beginning of 2022, the rich do not seem to have a good time, due to the global stock market shock. The net worth of the world's top ten richest people has shrunk by nearly one trillion yuan, of which the world's richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has shrunk by $32.9 billion, about 208.1 billion yuan. His new energy vehicle giant Tesla has also fallen by 13.09% this year.
Bezos, the world's second-richest man, also lost $27.4 billion, or about $173.32418 billion. His Amazon shares have also fallen as much as 16.03% this year. Bernard Arno, chairman of the world's third-richest lvmh group, also lost more than $20 billion. Including the above three rich people, since the beginning of this year, 8 of the world's top ten richest people have shrunk their net worth by more than 10 billion US dollars, and only Buffett has been "spared" in the top ten rich people.
In addition, the most down-to-the-list are technology stocks. Since the beginning of this year, the Fed's policy has tightened and US Treasury yields have soared, resulting in a sharp decline in technology stocks, and many technology giants have entered the technical correction range. As the world's largest technology giant, Musk owns two giant technology companies, Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) and Tesla (TESLA), which is naturally the most affected rich.
Elected as a U.S. Fellow
However, although it has shrunk by $32.9 billion even if it is affected, this is only a dime for Musk, after all, his value has increased by $118 billion in the past 2021, becoming the richest man with the most wealth growth. And Musk is still the world's richest man. And soon after the market value fell, Musk ushered in another highlight moment. On February 9, the National Academy of Engineering announced the election of 111 Additional American Academicians and 22 International Academicians.
Among them, the newly elected list of AMERICAN academicians includes Musk, and Musk has one more identity - academician. After the list was announced, Musk quickly expressed his gratitude on social platforms. As for the reason for Musk's election, in the public information of the National Academy of Engineers, Musk's column shows: Founder, CEO and Chief Engineer, SpaceX. Breakthroughs in the design, engineering, manufacturing and operation of reusable launch vehicles and sustainable transport and energy systems.
It can be seen that the important reason why Musk was elected as an academician is his achievements in SpaceX. Of course, after Musk was elected an academician, various voices also emerged on the Internet. Some netizens expressed congratulations, and some netizens questioned that Musk's academician status is not worthy of the name, of course, whether it is not worthy of the name, it is not something we can decide. But this is undoubtedly a great honor for Musk.
Really donated 36 billion yuan
Not long after the hot discussion of the elected academician, Musk was exposed to "real donation" of 36 billion yuan, which once again became the focus of the world. According to a document filed by Musk to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 14, 2021, Musk reported that he donated about 5.04 million shares to an unnamed charity from November 19, 2021 to November 29, 2021. Based on Tesla's closing price at the end of November last year, the donation is worth about $5.7 billion (about 36 billion yuan).
Or in response to the "forced donation door"?
As for the donation, it must be said that it will be "forced to donate" in 2021. It is reported that in early October 2021, the United Nations World Food Programme Administrator David Beasley stood up and appealed to Musk and other world rich people to donate 2% of their property, that is, $6 billion, to help the world's 42 million people not starve to death. Musk's net worth at the time was $311 billion, and $6 billion was a tiny fraction of his wealth. Beasley subsequently reiterated this view on many occasions.
In this regard, Musk also responded on social media: donating $6 billion is no problem, but asking WFP to disclose the specific aid strategy and account costs, he immediately sold Tesla stock to donate 6 billion. Therefore, the donations exposed this time have also attracted people's attention, and many people said that Musk really donated nearly 6 billion to WFP.
However, according to the ABC, the U.N. World Food Programme Administrator David Beasley said WFP has not received any news from Musk. There is also no information that Musk's donation is related to WFP's "forced donation" behavior.
Is the donation to avoid taxes?
As for the donation, it also made Musk the second largest donor in the United States last year after Bill Gates and Melinda Gates. Although the amount of donations is high, it is inevitable that suspicion will arise when the specific purpose and donation institutions are not announced. Some netizens believe that Musk's donation of shares to charity may only be for tax avoidance. Musk has always lagged behind other billionaires in philanthropy, spending less than 1% of his personal wealth on philanthropy.
Musk, as Tesla's CEO, does not take cash pay, but pays in the form of stock rewards. It is understood that about 22.9 million vested stock options were converted into Musk shares last year, which also made Musk's tax as high as $11 billion. Since stock donated to charities is not subject to capital gains tax, it could also exempt Musk from up to $2.8 billion in taxes. Being able to avoid taxes and win praise is a practice that kills two birds with one stone for Musk.
Of course, whether Musk is really doing charity or using charity to make his own profits may be answered after a while. However, the wealth that most rich people themselves obtain is also the result of their own ability and hard work, and indeed no one is qualified to ask the rich to do something with their funds. "Forced donations" are indeed too morally kidnapped.