Blog Former Tesla Exec Guillen Sells $274M in Stock

Jerome Guillen, a longtime Tesla employee or oversaw numerous parts of the business, sold an estimated $274 million worth of shares in the automaker this month.

Reuters reported a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that shows Guillen sold 215,718 shares for $129 million on June 15, 145,289 shares worth $89.6 million on June 14, and 90,111 shares worth $55 million on June 10.

Guillen’s last day at the company was June 3. He has spent the previous three months as president of the Heavy Duty Trucking division.

Prior to that, he had important roles across the business. He ran the company’s entire vehicles business as president of Automotive, vice president of Trucks, and vice president of Worldwide Sales and Service. He reported directly to Chief Executive Elon Musk for a decade.

Guillen has not commented on his plans for the future.

Image: Wikipedia

 

[Nmpool]

Wow

 

[JohCan]

He must know something?

 

[Jayw61]

Wish we knew the real reason. We can only speculate

 

[Green46]

Reporting directly to Elon must be extremely difficulty. Especially when you have several hundreds of millions just waiting to be cashed/excercised.

Not sure I would have lasted that long in there under those circumstances. Actually I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have.

 

[jvanyc]

Anybody with a calculator and brain who was in same position would do same thing. You people are insane if you think this current price will hold. (I own no tesla positions)

 

[TarmacSurfer]

It’ll probably dip due to increasing competition by big, established automakers although the “long game” is likely that it (and everything else) will float up simply due to inflationary effect and currency devaluation. Also keep in mind that most automakers are experiencing massive microchip shortages right now, which is restricting supply and driving prices up (and killing demand for new cars, which is why used car prices are through the roof).

Just my $0.02. Your mileage may vary. I wouldn’t be too averse to Tesla personally, especially based on one story. Heck, maybe he just wants money for his kids college or something… dunno. No, I don’t think TSLA is going to be a major moneymaker from a stock investing standpoint anytime soon (that ship has sailed) but it’s probably not going into the tank anytime soon either. People have been calling that for years and they have a lot of egg on their faces. Tesla is the real deal, getting better with time and is a real player now. They’re no longer a blip or an irritant to the established automaker world.

 

[wws]

My $0.02 - long term capital gains taxes will likely be much higher in 2022.

 

[LightngMcQueen]

I addition to increasing taxes ... it is difficult to land senior leadership job in automotive industry if you hold a major stake in a competitor.

It is a major conflict of interest and I doubt placing shares in trust would cut it.

 

[ATPMSD]

Elon made his money on X.com and PayPal, which he used to fund Tesla. I am happy for Guillen who helped build Tesla. Maybe his cash out will also result in building something great.

​

 

[gigawatt1010]

I agree with what's been said so far. All good points. Especially the part where TSLA has already seen the massive increases and had levelled off. Sure, there will be peaks and valleys and it will still slowly rise over the long term, but it won't be as exponential as the $17 per share it IPO'd with to technically $3k per share if you don't account for the split, in roughly 10 years - I'd those exponential growth days are gone.

Unless of course Musk surprises everyone next week with a driverless Tesla, successfully driving from NYC to LA in full autonomous glory. That should push the stock to about $10k per share. LOL

 

[RobDickinson]

What Happens to Stock Options if I Leave the Company? | Darrow Wealth Management

What happens to stock options if you're fired or quit? Treatment of vested or unvested shares when you leave your job or retire.

darrowwealthmanagement.com

Vested stock options​

If you have vested stock options (incentive stock options (ISOs) or non-qualified stock options (NQSOs)) that you have not exercised, you may have the opportunity to do so before you leave the company or within a defined period of time after your departure from the company. If you have incentive stock options, you will generally be able to exercise your shares up to 90 days after your final day with your previous employer. Equity plans may also allow for a longer period upon separation with the company for ISOs, although they will lose their “qualified” status and potentially favorable tax treatment. Non-qualified stock options may be more flexible, although you’ll need to review the terms as outlined in your company’s equity plan.

Tesla's former automotive chief sold more than $270 million of stock after leaving on June 3

Guillen became president of automotive in the third quarter of 2018, overseeing all of Tesla's automotive business.

www.cnbc.com

Silverman said of the former exec, “He may have had a narrow window of time to exercise his options or forfeit them. It could have been a use-it-or-lose-it situation that made him decide to buy and sell so much now. He’s also not an insider any more. So he may not feel comfortable having that much exposure to the stock. That’s not entirely unusual. If you’re not an insider, you’ve lost your information edge.”

 

[wilson.jiwutan]

I agree with what's been said so far. All good points. Especially the part where TSLA has already seen the massive increases and had levelled off. Sure, there will be peaks and valleys and it will still slowly rise over the long term, but it won't be as exponential as the $17 per share it IPO'd with to technically $3k per share if you don't account for the split, in roughly 10 years - I'd those exponential growth days are gone.

Unless of course Musk surprises everyone next week with a driverless Tesla, successfully driving from NYC to LA in full autonomous glory. That should push the stock to about $10k per share. LOL

Nah. Even if that trip in full automated way happened, people are going say "it happened in such a specially curated circumstance that can't reliably reproduce in daily life...". We are just going to see TSLA in whatever level it is, in whatever ways people interpret.

 

[zecar]

My $0.02 - long term capital gains taxes will likely be much higher in 2022.

Plus he had no diversification. By selling he can essentially be sure he has a couple hundred million for the rest of his life. Anyone with over 50% of their wealth in TSLA doesn't understand the difference between investing and gambling

 

[fjliska1314@ya]

I guess he just decided to take the money and run! Musk is probably difficult to work with.

 

[thesmokingman]

Why didn't he sell when it was 900 bucks earlier this year??

 

[ATPMSD]

Why didn't he sell when it was 900 bucks earlier this year??

Probably would have been considered insider trading.

 

[Yapa Drive]

Sales of this size are often scheduled to avoid accusations of insider trading. You don’t have to be employed to run afoul of insider trading laws. There are additional significant details in the full length CNBC article that points to a sudden unplanned exit. Had he stayed 2 more days another $700,000 stock units would have vested. Even with a $274 million sale of shares that’s still a lot of money. The language of the Tesla announcement was neutral even almost boilerplate. He left $442 million in unvested stock options. That’s where I say Wow.

 

[bhzmark]

Any updates?

 

[OGKobraTribe]

Tesla isn’t immune to the economic crisis that’s going to occur. Plus they will actually have real competition for the first time ever. With the economy on the verge of a recession their stock probably has another 2 months of gains, maybe. Throw in China’s issues and they will also suffer from that. Shorting Tesla will be wise in the coming months and beyond. However I don’t see it affecting the values of their cars for awhile. Buyers still want EV’s and the demand won’t just disappear but in general Tesla’s stock is extremely overvalued. Their valuation is based too much on where they are expected to be years from now not currently.
He’s smart to dump his stock there is a great possibility it’s peaked. Companies like Lucid will take away from the Model S sales which isn’t much as it is but once the major automakers begin releasing several options at price points in the Model 3 and Y price they will start having real competition and will lose a lot of buyers since this ridiculous administration is only giving EV tax breaks to automakers that are unionized.