Tesla shareholders approve $878 billion pay plan for Elon Musk
Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab CEO Elon Musk scored a resounding victory on Thursday as shareholders approved a pay package of as much as $878 billion over the next decade, endorsing his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut, News.Az reports citing Reuters.
Shares of Tesla rose more than 3% in after-hours trading. The proposal was approved with over 75% support.
Shareholders also reelected three directors on Tesla's board and voted in favor of a replacement pay plan for Musk's services because a legal challenge has held up a previous package.
The vote, analysts have said, is a positive for Tesla's stock, whose valuation hangs on Musk's vision of making vehicles drive themselves, expanding robotaxis across the U.S. and selling humanoid robots, even though his far-right political rhetoric has hurt the Tesla brand this year.
A win for Musk was widely expected as the billionaire was allowed to exercise the full voting rights of his roughly 15% stake after the automaker moved to Texas from Delaware, where a legal challenge has held up a previous pay rise.
The approval comes even after opposition from some major investors, including Norway's sovereign wealth fund.
Tesla's board had said Musk could quit if the pay package was not approved.
The graphic shows the top 25 Tesla investors by voting stake, illustrating how Musk’s personal holding compares to major asset managers and institutional investors.
The vote will also allay investor concern that Musk's focus has been diluted with his work in politics as well as in running his other companies, including rocket maker SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI.
The board and many investors who lent their endorsement have said the nearly $1 trillion package benefits shareholders in the longer run as Musk must ensure Tesla achieves a series of milestones to get paid.
Goals for Musk over the next decade include the company's delivering 20 million vehicles, having 1 million robotaxis in operation, selling 1 million robots and earning as much as $400 billion in core profit. But in order for him to get paid, Tesla's stock value has to rise in tandem, first to $2 trillion from the current $1.5 trillion, and all the way to $8.5 trillion.
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