(Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ) CEO Elon Musk stated Saturday that the results of this week’s sale of Tesla shares worth nearly $7 billion was closer to tax minimization than tax maximization.

Musk was reacting to a Tweet (NYSE.) commenter, who suggested that Musk could end up with more Tesla Shares if he decided to sell options and not shares.

A tweet by the richest person in the world and Tesla’s largest shareholder stated that “a careful observer would notice that my (low base) share sale rates significantly exceeds mine 10b (high bas) option exercise rates, so closer to tax maximization rather than minimization.”

Musk stated previously that he would need to exercise large numbers of stock options for the year. This could result in an enormous tax bill. The possibility of selling some stock would allow him to free up money for taxes.

Musk had tweeted a week earlier that he’d sell 10% of shares if the users of social media platforms backed the move.

“Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock,” he said in a tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1457064697782489088. The poll showed that the majority of respondents supported the sale.

Musk has sold shares worth $6.9 Billion in electric car firm, profiting from a rapid rally, which elevated the company’s valuation to more than $1 trillion.