Elon Musk has been making headlines across the world in recent weeks – and now a journalist has told ticker NEWS the billionaire has a “frat boy mentality” – and it all mostly comes from his tweets

The billionaire Tesla boss recently sold a combined $7.8 billion worth of his shares in his EV company – a tactic he says is to pay tax.

Musk, at the age of 50, has sold 2.8 million shares worth about $3 billion USD specifically to pay taxes on three tranches of stock options that he exercised this week, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

That means he has sold roughly $6.9 billion more in shares than he needs at present

Under a compensation plan from 2012, Mr Musk has options to buy 26.4 million shares.

The options expire next year, and the tax bill will come due.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told Ticker News that he estimates the bill of the billionaire entrepreneur to be between $10 billion to $15 billion USD – depending on the stock price.

Mr Musk’s options so far allowed him to buy shares at $6.24 USD each, and the stock is selling for about $1080 USD.

When you think about it, it is a big tax bill, but questions loom as to why the 50 year-old sold more than he needs.

“Frat boy mentality”

When it comes to his personality and mentality – there are many questions with how Musk is behind closed doors.

Patrick McGee from the Financial Times spoke to Ticker News on Thursday, labels his attitude as like a “frat boy.”

We all know Elon Musk to be a vocal kinda guy but now JP Morgan is taking Tesla to court over such tweets

JP Morgan Chase is suing Tesla for $162million over tweets in 2018 by boss Elon Musk that claimed he could take the electric car maker private.

The multinational bank accused Tesla of “flagrantly” – meaning it breached a deal it claims should have triggered payments to JP Morgan.

Musk’s notorious tweets that he had funding to take Tesla off the New York stock market sparked volatility in the share price.

He later abandoned the move and was fined by the US financial regulator.

JP Morgan’s suit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, says the companies had an agreement signed in 2014 that allowed the bank to buy Tesla shares at a set price and date.

This recent sales stunt isn’t all the busy EV boss has been getting up to

Over the course of the last fortnight, Musk has used his Twitter account as a platform to express his opinion, conduct polls and at times, interrupt the cryptocurrency market.

His actions to sell his Tesla stock came after he conducted a Twitter poll to his 60 million followers, asking them if he should as a way to pay off his taxes.

“Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10 per cent of my stock,” he wrote.

According to Mr Musk, 58 per cent of those who responded said yes.

Musk has conceded that much of his wealth is held up in stocks

The billionaire says much of his riches aren’t in physical cash, rather it’s being held up in stocks.

 “I have only stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock,” he wrote.

Musk started selling his shares on Monday, and as of Wednesday, he had liquidated about 5 per cent of his holdings.

According to reports, his federal tax obligations could be as high as 40 per cent on proceeds from some of the sales.

And who could forget Musk’s swing at Bernie Sanders?

Elon Musk was trolling yet again on his Twitter account this week (yes after he conducted the polls to sell his shares and blah blah blah) – and this time his target is US Senator Bernie Sanders

The billionaire has taken aim at a recent tweet from Mr Sanders which stated the rich must pay more tax

“I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” was the response from Mr Musk.

The Tesla boss then stated he’s willing to sell more of his EV stocks in order to pay more tax.

Sassy.