Shareholders of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) have voted overwhelmingly to approve a substantial pay raise for CEO Elon Musk. Shareholders gathered at the company annual meeting in Austin, Texas approved the trillion-dollar pay package, 75% voting in favour.
Board members recommended shareholders approve the pay plan, which they introduced in September. Top proxy advisors Glass Lewis and ISS recommended voting against it.
A separate proposal, submitted by one investor, called for Tesla to be able to invest in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup that was formed in March 2023 to compete with OpenAI. Brandon Ehrhart, general counsel at Tesla, said at the meeting that the company had “received more votes in favor than we did in against,” but that there were a number of abstentions and that Tesla is considering next steps.
The pay package for Musk, already the world’s richest person, consists of 12 tranches of shares to be granted if Tesla hits certain milestones over the next decade. It would also give Musk increased voting power over the company, acceding to demands that he’s made publicly since early 2024. His ownership would increase from about 13% to 25%, adding more than 423 million shares to his holdings.
Tesla also laid out a series of earnings milestones for Musk, beginning with $50 billion in annual adjusted profit and moving up to $400 billion.
In the third quarter, Tesla reported adjusted EBITDA of $4.2 billion.
Shares in TSLA closed Thursday at to $444.91.
Tech Insider
