...like running rats out a burning barn. James Murdoch, other Tesla insiders pare their holdings Timothy MooreBefore the Bell editor
Mar 13, 2025 – 9.00am
Tesla insiders, including billionaire director James Murdoch, have been exercising stock options in the electric vehicle maker, some more aggressively than others, particularly in the past three months as the stock has swooned.
The sales are detailed in Form 144 filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In a filing this week, Murdoch, who has been a Tesla director since mid-2017, said he sold 54,776 Tesla shares worth $US13.2 million ($20.9 million).
Murdoch is the fourth child of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and is engaged in a bitter family dispute with his father and elder brother Lachlan over proposed amendments to the family trust.
The amendments, which are now the subject of a court appeal, would influence the direction and management of the media organisations the trust controls, Fox and News Corporation.
Murdoch’s Tesla sales were preceded this month by Tesla chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja, who sold $US2.5 million of stock in two transactions on March 3 and March 6, and Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s chair, who sold $US33.7 million of shares on March 3.
A month earlier, on February 4, Kimbal Musk, younger brother of Tesla chief executive Elon, sold shares worth $US27.6 million.
The sales by Taneja were just his latest. He also sold $US2.8 million of stock on February 3 and $US2.9 million on January 6. He also sold parcels of shares four times in late October and early November.
Tesla shares have slumped by one-third since the start of the year, following a global backlash against Elon Musk, who has been working with the Trump administration as special adviser to slash federal government spending.
Musk’s chainsaw approach to cutting staff in US federal agencies has incensed many people as did his gestures at an inauguration event for the US president, which resembled a Nazi salute.
The backlash has resulted in protests outside Tesla dealerships and activists defacing Tesla drivers’ vehicles.
It also wasn’t the first time this year that Denholm, who is stepping down as the chair of the Tech Council of Australia later this month, pared her holdings in Tesla. She sold $US43.2 million of stock on February 3, $US39.8 million on December 2 last year, as well as $US35.3 million on November 15. She also sold $US14.6 million on July 25.
The filings showed that Murdoch, Taneja, Denholm and Kimbal Musk exercised stock options as part of their sales. Tanja also sold some restricted stock.
One other insider who also has been selling this year is Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. She sold $US41 million of stock on January 6, another parcel of $US35.1 million on December 4 and $US32.1 million on November 11.
