More than 75% of the votes cast were in favor of the unprecedented pay plan, the company said Thursday at its annual meeting. The outcome caps a weekslong campaign by the electric vehicle maker’s board, its CEO and prominent retail investors to build support.
The
“It’s not just a new chapter for Tesla, it’s a new book,” Musk said at the shareholder meeting, wearing a black Tesla jacket as he strode the stage in front of a cheering crowd. “And that new book is massively increasing vehicle production and ramping up Optimus production faster than anything’s ever been ramped up before in human history.”
The compensation vote was pivotal for Tesla, after Musk suggested he could step down or spend more time with his other companies if he didn’t get greater control over the carmaker. He’s now likely to remain at the helm as Tesla pursues an ambitious agenda built around driverless vehicles and artificial intelligence.
Tesla shares rose less than 1% as of 7:16 p.m. in postmarket trading Thursday in New York, paring an earlier gain of as much as 3.4%. The stock was up 10% this year through Thursday’s close, narrowly trailing the 14% advance in the S&P 500 Index.
Musk teased several lofty goals as the company looks to 2026 and beyond.
The CEO, who has led the EV maker since 2008, said that Tesla might end up building a chip factory to get the volume it needs, even as the company works with established suppliers such as Samsung and TSMC.
“Even when we extrapolate the best case scenario for chip production from our suppliers it’s still not enough,” Musk said. “So I think we may have to do a Tesla terafab. It’s like giga but way bigger.”
He said next year will focus on Optimus, the Semi truck and the Cybercab. Musk expects production of Cybercab will be roughly in line with regulatory approval. “I’d like to thank Waymo for paving the path here. It’s very helpful,” he added.
Musk said Tesla has aspirational goals to boost vehicle production volume by about 50% by the end of next year.
Aggressive Effort
The pay package was widely
The board waged an aggressive effort to garner support, featuring meetings with large institutional shareholders and a series of media appearances by Chair
Read More:
Musk himself sought to rally support, using a portion of
Tesla Inc. shareholders approved a potential $1 trillion compensation package for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, the largest payout ever awarded to a corporate leader. Musk would have to meet certain goals to get the full payout. Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow reports. Source: Bloomberg
Schwab Asset Management earlier this week pledged to back the pay proposal after a number of prominent retail shareholders said on social media that they would move funds out of brokerages that voted in opposition. Several other institutional investors, including Florida’s State Board of Administration, said they would vote for the package.
“Even with the new pay package, there are significant hurdles” to unlocking the payout, including profitably scaling Tesla’s operations and delivering many robots and robotaxis, said Wedbush Securities analyst
The win gives Musk a clear, albeit challenging, path to becoming the world’s first trillionaire. Should he hit all of the targets in the plan, including expanding Tesla’s market value to $8.5 trillion, his total stake in the carmaker would be worth roughly $2.4 trillion.
That’s more than quintuple his current net worth of about $460 billion, according to the
Up and Down Fortune
Musk’s fortune has been on a roller coaster ride this year. It stood at roughly $450 billion in January when he joined President
His wealth has since rebounded, helped by a recovery in Tesla shares as well as booming valuations for his privately held businesses including
The new package drew pushback from some longtime Musk critics, including New York State Comptroller
“People can’t afford their rent, can’t afford health, can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford to retire with dignity,” Sanders told reporters. “And we’re talking about one guy who already owns more wealth in the bottom 52% of American households getting even richer.”
The package comes after Musk’s previous multibillion-dollar compensation plan was
Tesla said Thursday that it needs time to review the votes for a nonbinding shareholder proposal to invest in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. Of the votes submitted, more were cast in favor of the plan than against it, but the volume of abstentions was so high that it merited further discussion, Tesla said.
The measure, calling for an investment “in an amount and form deemed appropriate by the board,” is advisory, meaning Tesla is not required to move ahead. Musk has been publicly supportive of an investment and floated the idea of a $5 billion stake last year.
(Updates with additional details beginning in seventh paragraph.)
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