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Robyn Denholm, the president of Tesla (Tsla-3.33%) Board of directors, has sold nearly $ 200 million in Tesla shares in the past six months, according to a Analysis of the New York Times recent dry documents.
This is the total product of Denholm of Tesla actions sales to more than half a billion dollars since its care as chairman of the board of directors in 2018-chief and shoulders above its counterparts in other large American companies during the same period.
Sales were executed under a Trading plan 10B5-1 Adopted in July 2024, shortly after CEO Elon Musk publicly approved Donald Trump for the president. The first sale of Denholm as part of the plan took place the week after the elections. She continued to sell At the beginning of May 2025, even if Tesla actions sank two figures from their recent PIC.
Denholm still has around 85,000 shares and Nearly 200,000 Non -practicing options, by disclosure of the second, of a value potentially between $ 50 and $ 80 million at current prices.
A long withdrawal arc
Denholm, a former Australian technological director, was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2018 as part of a settlement with the SEC which forced Musk to withdraw from this role. Its remuneration was largely in share purchase options, some granted in 2014. For example, it recently bought more than 112,000 shares at $ 24.73 each and sold them on the same day for more than $ 270 each.
Sales were legal and pre-programmed. It is their timing that raises the eyebrows, especially since Musk urged Tesla employees to “hang on to your stock” and some criticisms wonder if Denholm and other members of the board of directors are really independent.
The New York Brad Lander controller, whose office oversees the main public pension funds invested in Tesla, told Times that the optics “do not send a message that it is a chairman of the board of directors who is invested in the future of the company”.
Adding to the mixture, the compensation of the Tesla table has a Long and troubled story. A regulation in 2023 of a trial for shareholders in 2020 had members, including Denholm, returning hundreds of millions in cash and options without admitting reprehensible acts. THE rocket reached 2025.
Recent actions sales also occur in the middle of a renewed exam by Denholm – and Musk
At the beginning of the month, the Wall Street Journal (Nws-0.54%)) reported That the board of directors of Tesla had quietly explored the succession options of the CEO as the concerns developed on the political tangles of Elon Musk and the divided focus. “The members of the board of directors contacted several management firms to work on an official process to find the next director general of Tesla, according to people familiar with the discussions,” according to The Journal Story.
Tesla and Denholm have publicly denied the report, with Denholm reaffirming support for Musk. At the same time, you need a plot For such a story to be printed to start, and the report has been detailed, suggesting serious and legitimate foundations.
In this context, Denholm’s decision to withdraw the purchase options for Tesla’s action collapsed – and while Musk urged employees to “hang on to your stock” – raises new questions about internal confidence.
The remaining participation of Denholm in Tesla represents a ribbon of wealth that she has already conceded
The more than $ 530 million that Denholm has made since 2018 have largely came from the options granted between 2014 and 2020, when Tesla’s course was a fraction of what it is today.
Denholm and other Tesla administrators have not received new action purchase options since mid-2010, when the board of directors has agreed to cease to issue grants in shares within the framework of the regulations of the shareholders’ pursuit. This means that the compensation she currently works is essentially the end of the tail of a long, extraordinarily lucrative race, not a reflection of the rewards of fresh planks. With Tesla’s stocks of its peaks (although extraordinarily Successful in the longer term) and no new participation arrives, the value of its remaining stake seems weak even if its gains made remain massive.
