FILE - Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars after a visit in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, March 13, 2024. If Tesla shareholders vote against restoring Elon Musk’s $44.9 billion pay package that was tossed out by a Delaware judge, the CEO could deliver on threats to take artificial intelligence research to another firm, or even leave Tesla. DETROIT — Or he could even could walk away.
Multiple institutional investors have come out against that sizeable payout, some citing falling vehicle sales, price cuts and the tumbling Tesla stock price. But Tesla’s top five institutional shareholders, Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, Geode Capital, and Capital Research either said they don’t announce their votes or wouldn’t comment. They control about 17% of the votes.
One investor who came out against the package is Norway’s sovereign wealth fund operated by Norges Bank Investment Management. It“While we appreciate the significant value generated under Mr. Musk’s leadership since the grant date in 2018, we remain concerned about the total size of the award, the structure given performance triggers, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” Norges Bank Investment Management said in a prepared statement.