Letter urges shareholders to reject CEO pay plan and boot two board members.
He wants to cash out before Tesla will crash and burn. Predictions are that Tesla is bankrupt in 5 years.
His compensation package is tied to multiple variables in revenue and growth… and he can’t sell any earned shares for 5 years after earning them. This compensation package is how other businesses should operate to prevent artificially inflating value to get paid.
Although I disagree with anyone making billions of dollars, at least tying that to the performance of the business and handcuffing any stock sales to prevent a pump-and-dump is definitely a step in the right direction. Create real value or you shouldn’t earn anything.
This compensation is same amount as he owns Tesla now, so their idea is to let him sell his existing stock, which he has promised to not sell. He wants to cash out, like many Tesla executives, because they know that Tesla is in problems.
He owns his current stock and can sell the majority of it if he wants, without board approval. It doesn’t make sense for him to do that since it would sink the value of the stock and make any future stock much less valuable.
He is also trying to gain more control over Tesla’s future, so it wouldn’t make sense to sell shares that would dilute his ownership percentage.
Look, I get that Elon is a dick and people don’t like him or the fact that he has access to more money than anyone deserves, but Tesla is doing fine and starting to profit in the other areas of technology development that they’ve been innovating in. As much as it bucks the current narrative on Elon, he is still pushing the transition from a fossil fuel economy to an electric economy and is making strides in battery production, energy management, AI, robotics, and a half dozen other things that will provide the infrastructure of a better future.
When you run an entire system on capital being the greatest resource, you get dicks that rise to the top of that system. This dick is at least pushing for things that help society while he makes a profit.
For my 2 cents, I think he’s more bipolar than just a vanilla flavored, money grubbing asshole. I’m not a doctor or psychologist, though.
Bankcrupt in 5 years, I will reply to this when it happens.
People have been saying that for 21 years. Despite what media is pushing, Tesla’s financials are strong and their market share is increasing. Look at the numbers, not the hype (or any-hype, so it seems).
Guy should slow it down with the withdrawals from Homie Equity Line Of Credit, Tesla is getting stampeded by the more established manufacturers left and right and I don’t really see what he should be compensated for, apart from apparently trying to use the company as his personal piggy bank.
In the last few years they’ve lost the budget EV market to Chinese manufacturers despite BYD cars burning down like candles in a forest fire, conservative German manufacturers like Daimler have caught up in regards to autonomous driving and are making further progress, products are stuck in development hell etc. etc.
It’s a really valid point to raise – what exactly has he done lately to deserve the payout? The situation in 2018 was a bit different, but the amount would’ve been well on the outrageous side even back when the stock was rocketing and the recent controversies weren’t all yet a thing.
It makes you wonder why he needs the payout. I just listened to a podcast about Michael Jackson (Timesuck if you’re curious, highly recommend it) and he talked about how Jackson was in massive debt by the end and was prepping for a tour to make money to pay back his debts right before he died. The host pointed out it doesn’t matter how rich you are, you can always overspend.
Obviously, at billionaire level the debt isn’t going to be with luxuries and goods. Could it be debt to other billionaires or countries made under the table? He’s shown in recent years that he’s not the business genius he tried to pretend he was, so it wouldn’t be that far fetched.
On top of that, despite my explicit hatred for Ford as a brand, I have do admit that the rental I have this week is really fun: an electric Ford Mustang.
I don’t see Tesla offering anything anymore that isn’t done better and with more quality by other brands who have had decades of experience with quality control.
If anything, he should be paying around that amount into the company as a penalty for his red team bullshit and terrible political optics. Driving a Tesla is now synonymous with supporting Trump in the minds of most. This is the dumbest possible move against the market demographic of intelligent self aware people willing to make better environmental choices. The big moves to Texas and away from California with many of his other endeavors furthers the issue of screwing over the public. His anti Union politics and war against fundamental decency shows Musk is playing a big part it what is wrong with present society. He is the poster child for a neo feudal oligarchy now. I wouldn’t even consider a Tesla now. Plus, no one owns a Tesla because of all the DRM theft and control. That is becoming more relevant with time. The cars have no long term value in a second hand market like ICE vehicles of the past.
Are federal agencies just bickering over who’s supposed to twist his nuts over this?
Shareholder? Who needs shareholders? 💩
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The group’s letter also urged shareholders to vote against the reelection of board members Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch.
“Tesla is suffering from a material governance failure which requires our urgent attention and action,” and its board “is stacked with directors that have close personal ties to CEO Elon Musk,” the letter said.
“There are multiple indications that these ties, coupled with excessive director compensation, prevent the level of critical and independent thinking required for effective governance.”
We believe that the distractions caused by Musk’s many projects, particularly his decision to buy Twitter, have played a material role in Tesla’s underperformance," the letter said.
Tesla’s reputation has been harmed by Musk’s “public fights with regulators, acquisition of Twitter, controversial statements on X, and his legal and personal troubles,” the letter said.
The letter was sent by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and investors including Amalgamated Bank, AkademikerPension, Nordea Asset Management, SOC Investment Group, and United Church Funds.
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