By Senad Karaahmetovic
Investor Leo Koguan, who claims to be the third largest shareholder of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), urged the electric vehicle (EV) maker to announce a $15 billion share repurchase plan as its share price continues to decline.
Tesla should announce it will buy $5 billion of its shares this year and an additional $10 billion next year, Koguan said in a tweet to Martin Viecha, the carmaker’s senior director of investor relations. Koguan added that the company should finance the repurchase using its free cash flow.
Companies regularly buy back their shares on the open market in a bid to return capital to shareholders.
In his interview with Forbes in October, Koguan claimed he had made billions by investing in the electric carmaker and said he went “all in” on the company after he sold his holdings in Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Nio (NYSE:NIO).
“I regarded myself as Elon’s fanboy,” Koguan reportedly said. “I would say he is the only person I really respect on Earth.”
Shares of Tesla slipped over 6% Wednesday after a broader market sell-off and remain down more than 30% year-to-date.