Musk donated US $1.9 billion in 2022, down 67% from the same period last year.

Beijing, February 15 (Xinhua) Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Elon Musk) donated about $1.9 billion (13 billion yuan) of company shares to charities last year, down 67 percent from a year earlier, according to regulatory documents released on Tuesday.

Mr Musk reported in regulatory filings that he donated about 11.6 million shares of Tesla shares last year, down from 2021. In 2021, Musk donated $5.7 billion worth of Tesla shares. The securities filing does not mention the names of any recipients of donations. These calculations are based on the adjustment of Tesla shares, which came into effect in 2022. The IRS assesses the value of the given stock based on the average of the highest and lowest prices on the day of the stock trading report.

Musk currently owns about 13% of Tesla and sold about $23 billion in Tesla in 2022, at least in part to support the acquisition of Twitter. Last fall, the billionaire bought Twitter for $44 billion. Mr Musk said at the end of last year that he would not sell any Tesla shares for at least the next 18 to 24 months.

Tesla's share price fell 65% last year, its worst annual performance on record, wiping out about $675 billion in market value. The collapse of Tesla's share price led Mr Musk to cede the title of world's richest man to French billionaire Bernard Arnault in December. In 2023, Tesla's share price has recovered some of its losses in 2022. The stock is up about 70 per cent so far this year and closed 7.5 per cent higher at $209.25 on Tuesday.