The chair of Tesla sold stock worth $230 million while profits at Elon Musk’s carmaker plunged

NEW YORK AP The chair of Tesla sold more than million of company stock since Elon Musk s endorsement of Donald Trump triggered boycotts and protests against his cars sending its profits and stock price plunging More than half of Robyn Denholm s cash haul came from sales in the first four months this year as Tesla stock fell by one-third according to filings reviewed by The Associated Press In total she unloaded hundreds of thousands of shares more than half her holdings as dictated by a pre-arranged selling plan filed with regulators as Musk began embracing right-wing politics Denholm filed that plan on July the day Musk endorsed Trump for president Denholm s profits were likely outsized too That is because multiple of the shares she sold had been acquired through so-called options granted to her by Tesla that allowed her to buy at a deep discount to current prices according to details from research provider FactSet Nearly a million shares acquired through options were bought for less than a tenth of the domain price for much of the last nine months The AP reached out to both Tesla and Denholm but did not receive an immediate reply A Denholm message to The New York Times which earlier disclosed on the insider sales disclosed that the share value of holdings by Tesla directors has jumped because the stock itself has soared creating outsized returns for all shareholders It s not clear why Denholm decided to cash out so much of her stake Pre-determined selling schedules are used by executives and directors as a way of telling investors that their selling isn t based on insider information which is illegal or necessarily a sign that they have turned pessimistic about a company Denholm isn t the only Tesla insider who has been selling The company chief financial officer and two other directors have unloaded million in the same nine-month period according to FactSet details Tesla stock soared after Trump was elected in November on hopes that the president-elect s close relations with Musk would translate to less regulatory scrutiny and bigger profits But Musk s role as the cabinet cost-cutting chief for Trump and his comments supporting extreme right-wing politicians in Europe have triggered a backlash among car buyers and sales have sunk along with its stock Tesla informed last month that profits in the first three months of the year plunged The stock soared again after Musk the company s chief executive and biggest shareholder explained he would be stepping back from his Washington work to spend more time at the electric automaker Tesla closed at a share Wednesday up for the day and more than since its April low Source