Tesla shareholders strongly supported proposals to stabilize Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. Vote details published on Friday.
The proposals were passed at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, without the underlying totals. In the end, Mr. About 72 percent of voting shares supported the pay package, excluding shares owned by Musk and his brother Kimball.
For months, many Tesla investors have worried about how involved Elon Musk will be in running the electric car company after a judge in Delaware struck down his pay package.
In compensation plan Mr. Musk must hold the shares for at least five years before selling them, and the value of the package will continue to fluctuate before he does so. At Thursday’s closing price, the stock was worth about $48 billion.
Addressing the shareholders after the vote, Mr. Musk has vowed to remain committed to Tesla. The pay package, he said, “isn’t really cash, I can’t cut and run, I don’t want to.”
Shares of Tesla fell about 2 percent in early trading on Friday, reversing some of the previous day’s gains, after Mr. Musk said. Mr. Musk’s supporters celebrated the vote online and analysts revised their reports on Tesla’s prospects.
Vanguard, which holds a 7 percent stake in Tesla, making it the company’s second-largest shareholder after Mr. Musk, voted in favor of the pay award despite voting against it in 2018. On a note Explaining its reversal, Vanguard said that while Vanguard was concerned about the size of the package, “the unique circumstances of evaluating the project allayed our concerns.”
The decision served as a “vote of confidence in Elon,” analysts at Bernstein wrote in a note after the decision. “While there is some uncertainty surrounding the legal process and next steps, the vote is a clear pass by that standard, allaying concerns that Elon may leave the institution or channel his energies elsewhere.”
Tesla’s board hopes that a second confirmation of the wage award, which was originally approved in 2018, could persuade the Delaware court to reverse its ruling. The judge in the case ruled that the award was excessive and that Mr. Musk also said that he ordered.
“We believe that the approval vote that Elon sought and forced was legally highly flawed, legally ineffective and does not affect our case,” said Greg Varallo, a lawyer for the disgruntled Tesla shareholders who challenged Musk’s pay in court. A statement.
Along with the salary package, Mr. Musk owns 20.5 percent of Tesla, up from about 13 percent. Mr. Musk said he wanted a 25 percent stake, noting in January that it would be “enough to exert influence, but not so much that I can’t flip.” If he doesn’t get such a big stake, he said, he’d like to “build products outside of Tesla.”
Even after this week’s rally, Tesla’s stock is down more than 20 percent this year, and has seen the broader stock market gain 14 percent. The nearly $600 billion company is by some distance the most valuable car company, but fears of stiff competition and moribund demand for its models have weighed on the stock.
At the shareholder meeting held on Thursday, Mr. Musk said Tesla’s self-driving technology, including the promised Robotaxis, and the company’s humanoid robot, called Optimus, could grow into a multi-trillion dollar business.
According to FactSet, market analysts are split on where Tesla goes from here, with about 40 percent rating the stock a “buy,” 20 percent a “sell” and the remainder a “hold.” The range of price forecasts is wide, and averages to where the stock is trading right now.
Bernstein’s price target implies a 30 percent downside, and analysts rate the stock “underperform.” Others are more bullish: Analysts at Wedbush think the stock could rise 50 percent from here, rating it an “outperformer.” The result of the referendum on pay was a “pop the champagne moment,” they wrote. “Tesla Musk and Musk Tesla.”
Peter Eavis, Jack Ewing And Michael J. de la Merced Contributed report.
