Tesla Inc shares declined 3.0 per cent on Monday as investors prepared for its chief Elon Musk’s proposed sale of about a tenth of his holdings in the electric-car maker following his Twitter poll.

Musk, the world’s richest person, tweeted on Saturday that he would offload 10 per cent of his stake if users of the social media network approved the proposal. The poll asking Musk’s followers if he should sell stock garnered more than 3.5 million votes, and 57.9 per cent of the people voted “Yes”.

Musk had said he would have to exercise a large number of stock options in the next three months, which would create a big tax bill. Selling some of his stock could free up funds to pay the taxes. “I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock,” Musk wrote. “I was prepared to accept either outcome.”

Tesla shares were last at $1,185.95 after falling as low as $1,133 earlier in the session.