(New York) The mobilization of Tesla and its boss Elon Musk has paid off: his enormous compensation plan was once again approved by the shareholders of the car manufacturer, after its cancellation by the courts in January.
Published at 6:50 a.m.
Updated at 6:36 p.m.
Elodie MAZEIN
France Media Agency
The announcement was made by Brandon Ehrhart, general secretary of Tesla, in front of several hundred shareholders gathered at a general meeting in Austin (Texas) and who greeted these two approvals with cheers and applause.
The plan had an estimated value of $56 billion when it was developed in 2018.
“Damn, I love you guys,” Elon Musk said as he took the stage, all smiles.
The billionaire affirmed, shortly after the remote vote closed at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday in Texas (12:59 a.m. Eastern time), that the two resolutions had been validated.
“At this point, both Tesla shareholder resolutions are adopted by a large majority! », Wrote Mr. Musk, in a message published during the night of Wednesday to Thursday on his social network X.
The precise results have not yet been communicated.
“Uncork the Champagne, for Musk,” Wedbush analysts launched in a note Thursday morning.
“We believe that the mass vote of small holders in favor of the two resolutions was crucial for their approval despite the opposition of certain large institutional shareholders,” they noted.
Well aware of the importance of individual shareholders, the group led an all-out campaign until the last moment to encourage them to vote.
“Your vote is crucial for the future growth and success of Tesla and for the value of your investment,” insisted the electric vehicle specialist in a video explaining, with the help of his humanoid robot Optimus, how to vote.
In addition to an ad hoc website with countdown and advocacy as well as advertising inserts, it also offered, by lottery, fifteen visits to the Austin mega-factory with Elon Musk and Franz von Holzhausen as guides, chief designer of Tesla.
Several large carriers had announced over the days that they were opposed to this package, as a certain number had already done on March 21, 2018, when this financial package was submitted to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting.
The “yes” vote then won by 73%, excluding the votes of Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal. Their mandates as directors were renewed on Thursday for three years.
The package provided for share distributions for ten years, based on specific objectives.
Leaving the road
But a shareholder’s appeal to a Delaware court resulted in its annulment at the end of January.
In mid-April, the board of directors undertook a maneuver to get it back on track by including it on the menu for Thursday’s ordinary general meeting.
“The board supports this compensation plan. We believed in it in 2018, asking Elon to pursue remarkable goals to grow the company,” the board argued at the time.
Tesla shares were worth $20.70 at the close of Wall Street the day before the 2018 AGM (taking into account the stock splits that have occurred since), and $177.29 at close on Wednesday.
According to Garrett Nelson, analyst at CFRA Research, individual shareholders hold approximately 40% of the manufacturer’s capital.
The fear, underlined by the analyst like other experts and shareholders favorable to the plan, was that, in the event of refusal by the AG, the billionaire could have turned away from Tesla to devote himself more to his other companies (SpaceX, X, xAI, Starlink, etc.).
However, for many, Tesla is nothing without Elon Musk. At the end of 2023, he held 20.5% of the capital.
“Tesla is better with Elon. Tesla is Elon,” said Ron Baron last week, boss of Baron Funds which has invested around three billion dollars in Tesla shares. “Elon fulfilled his compensation contract. Elon earned his salary.”
Asked by AFP ahead of the AGM, Vanguard, the leading investor with a share of 7.23% at the end of 2023, refused to reveal its vote and BlackRock, the second investor with 5.9%, did not respond.
According to Wall Street Journalin 2018 the first voted against, while the second approved the plan.
The California Teachers’ Pension Fund (CalSTRS), one of the three largest in the United States, voted no to this plan described as “ridiculous” by Chris Ailman, its investment director.
Same refusal from the Norwegian sovereign fund NBIM – the largest in the world and shareholder of Tesla at 0.98% at the end of 2023 – as in 2018.
