Elon Musk's $1 trillion Tesla pay plan wins shareholder approval

By Abhirup Roy and Akash Sriram

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Tesla CEO Elon Musk won shareholder support connected Thursday for the largest firm wage bundle successful past arsenic investors endorsed his imaginativeness of morphing the EV shaper into an AI and robotics juggernaut.

The connection was approved with implicit 75% support, and Musk bounded to the signifier of the company's yearly gathering astatine its mill ​in Austin, Texas, accompanied by dancing robots.

Musk, already the world's richest person, could get arsenic overmuch arsenic $1 trillion successful banal implicit the adjacent decade, though required payments would instrumentality ‌the worth down to $878 billion.

The ballot is important for Tesla's aboriginal and its valuation, which hangs connected Musk's imaginativeness of making vehicles that thrust themselves, creating a robotaxi web crossed the U.S. and selling humanoid robots, adjacent though his far-right governmental rhetoric ‌has wounded the Tesla marque this year.

The committee warned helium could permission if helium didn't get the wage package. While immoderate investors said it was incredibly costly and unnecessary, galore saw it arsenic a mode to clasp Musk and judge that the goals acceptable successful the bundle ensured shareholders would beryllium rewarded arsenic well.

"What we are astir to embark upon is not simply a caller section of the aboriginal of Tesla, but a full caller book," Musk told a cheering radical of shareholders.

He past made a drawstring of promises connected signifier - from, successful April, opening accumulation of the Cybercab, its 2-seater steering-less robotaxi, to unveiling its next-generation Roadster electrical sports car. He besides said Tesla would ⁠need "a gigantic spot fab" to marque AI chips and should see ‌working with Intel.

Shareholders besides reelected 3 directors connected Tesla's board, voted successful favour of yearly elections for each committee members and approved a replacement wage program for Musk's erstwhile bundle that is held up successful court.

"Other shareholder meetings are similar snoozefests, but ours are bangers," Musk said. "I mean, look astatine this. This is ‍sick."

Shareholders voted successful favour of Tesla investing successful Musk's artificial quality startup, xAI, though determination were galore abstentions. That could bespeak the hesitancy of large investors to bless the statement without stronger committee oversight, said Jessica McDougall, spouse astatine strategical and governance advisory steadfast Longacre Square.

Many investors, she said, would beryllium "looking for the committee to supply assurances and convictions that determination are guardrails successful spot to beryllium definite there's not excessively overmuch mixing of businesses."

A triumph for Musk was wide ​expected arsenic the billionaire was allowed to ballot his astir 15% involvement aft the automaker moved to Texas from Delaware. Excluding Musk's influence, the bulk was tiny capable to warrant reappraisal of CEO wage by the ‌board astatine a emblematic company, said Jessica Strine, CEO of shareholder advisory steadfast Jasper Street Partners. At Tesla, she said: "realistically determination is not going to beryllium specified a review."