Elon Musk has converted a portion of his stock options into shares with immediate voting rights, though they are not sellable until 2028, thereby increasing his voting power at Tesla Motors (TSLA) to 20%.

Securities filings reveal that, following the recent initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX last week, Musk executed a deal agreed with Tesla in April this year. The transaction involved converting approximately 300 million unexercised options from his 2018 compensation package.

This unusual arrangement means Musk did not acquire additional ordinary Tesla shares. Instead, he received restricted stock units that will vest on January 19, 2028, which is the original expiration date for those options.

However, a document released on Wednesday indicates these instruments "carry voting rights exercisable by Musk." He surrendered 17.5 million shares to cover the roughly $7.1 billion cost of exercising the options.

Upon completion of the transaction, Musk holds about 700 million Tesla shares, including those held through a trust. He stated in a securities disclosure filing that this represents approximately 19.9% of the company's currently outstanding stock.

Musk has previously expressed a desire for a 25% controlling stake in Tesla to feel secure in developing artificial intelligence (AI) within the automaker. His shareholding in the company was around 15% in 2025.

Musk has been consolidating his business interests this year. Prior to the rocket maker SpaceX's IPO, he merged his startup xAI with SpaceX. He holds super-voting shares in SpaceX, granting him over 80% of the voting power in that company.