May 20, 2022: -Billionaire Leo Kogan has been to be the third-largest individual shareholder of Tesla stock, is calling on the carmaker to announce a $15 billion stock buyback as the share price of the company continues to decrease.

In a tweet to Martin Viecha, Tesla’s senior director of investor relations, Kogan said the company should announce that it is planning to buy back $5 billion of Tesla shares this year and $10 billion in the coming year. He further said that Tesla should use its free cash flow to fund the buyback and that it shouldn’t affect its existing $18 billion cash reserves.

On Wednesday, Tesla shares closed down over 6% between a broad market sell-off. The company’s stock is decreased more than 30% this year.

When a public company uses cash to buy shares on the open market, a stock buyback is a method that firms use to return capital to shareholders.

Buybacks were increasing to a record high of $850 billion in 2021. Apple repurchased more of its stock in the year than any other public company, followed by Alphabet and then Meta. Alphabet announced $70 billion in buybacks in the previous month.

According to a Forbes report from October, Kogan “bet the house” on Tesla in the coronavirus pandemic. He said he had made billions by going long on the electric vehicle maker. Kogan reportedly went all-in on Tesla after selling his shares in other companies such as Baidu, Nvidia, China Mobile, and Nio.

“I regarded myself as Elon’s fanboy,” Kogan reportedly said. “I would say he is the only person I respect on Earth.”

Musk, the world’s richest person on paper, said Tuesday that he’d put the Twitter deal “on hold” until he gets more information on how many fake or spam accounts there are on the social media network.

On Tuesday, analysts at Jefferies said that Musk looks to be trying to drive down the price due to the recent market sell-off.

“Elon Musk commenced recently suggesting he will try to negotiate a lower offer price,” equity analyst Brent Thill and equity associate James Heaney said.