C-Suite·TeslaElon Musk’s Tesla finally sets a holder meeting date amid doubts his long-denied $56 billion pay packageBY Amanda GerutBY Amanda GerutNews Editor, West CoastAmanda GerutNews Editor, West CoastAmanda Gerut is the west coast editor at Fortune, overseeing publicly traded es, executive compensation, Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, and investigations.
SEE FULL BIO Tesla investors sent a letter to the board this week, pressing for a -the-date on the annual holder meeting.
Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images the date: Tesla has announced it will hold an annual holder meeting on Nov.
6; the announcement comes just one day after a pointed letter from investors to the board enthusiastically the independent directors set a date—publicly. Better late than never.
Tesla announced on Thursday it will hold an annual meeting on Nov.
The announcement comes some 24 hours after a letter from more than two dozen investors in the $952 billion electric-vehicle maker pressed the board on when it would next go mano a mano with its holders.
The last annual holder meeting was a high-stakes event that saw investors apve CEO Elon Musk’s controversial pay package a second time and green-light a move from Delaware to Texas.
Under Texas law, Tesla is required to hold an annual meeting within 13 months of the last one, which was held on June 13, 2024.
Tesla notified investors the meeting and set a July 31 deadline for holders to submit posals.
Meanwhile, Tesla has yet to file a xy statement—which informs holders of the meeting agenda and items to be voted on—that would ly answer swirling questions Musk’s controversial compensation.
To refresh: His pay package was structured as a moonshot mega grant initially valued at $2. 6 billion before soaring along with holders’ fortunes as high as $56 billion.
It was to be the highest compensation ever awarded to the CEO of a publicly traded company. However, an investor challenged it in court, and Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St.
McCormick rescinded it twice—even after Tesla investors apved it a second time last year.
As it stands, it’s un how the Tesla board will ceed with paying Musk, a prerogative for keeping him engaged at Tesla amid his other competing interests and companies, board chair Robyn Denholm has said.
Tesla has faced serious pressure from investors over Musk’s work with President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and later Musk’s bitter bust-up with Trump.
That ed with Musk announcing he would create a third political party, the “America Party. ” The announcement led to a selloff in Tesla s, which led to $15 billion being wiped from Musk’s net worth.
Ing the announcement of the meeting date, a few of Tesla’s investors were underwhelmed. “Tesla isn’t riding on innovation right now, it’s riding on inertia.
” —Mark Pinsley, Lehigh County Controller In a statement, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said the announcement was a “welcome, if belated, recognition that the rule of law applies to everyone—even the world’s richest man and his company.
“The basic corporate governance rules are not optional; they are fundamental tections for holders and public,” said Lander.
Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley, a member of the Lehigh County pension board, which voted last May to halt any new investments in Tesla in the county’s actively managed funds, said Musk’s political ambitions have turned Tesla from a transformative company into a cultural fault line.
“It’s time he stepped aside,” Pinsley told Fortune.
“His growing entanglement in, including his flirtation with launching a new political party, makes Tesla a xy for ideological battles rather than a company focused on serving its workers or customers.
” Pinsley said Tesla “benefits enormously” from simply being part of the S&P 500, meaning index funds are compelled to keep in the stock.
It creates artificial demand that is largely unrelated to fundamentals such as revenue, innovation, or governance, he said. “I understand the long-term mise of autonomous taxis,” said Pinsley.
“However, we’re still years away from them generating significant revenue, so the [price-to-earnings ratio] remains way out of whack with the underlying fundamentals.
” Plus, Tesla has become a lightning rod, he said, more divisive than visionary, which is a shame for a company that once held real mise to shape society, Pinsley added.
“Tesla isn’t riding on innovation right now, it’s riding on inertia,” he said. “Its place in the S&P 500 keeps demand for its stock artificially high, regardless of performance.
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