Elon Musk is offering tours of Tesla's factory to 15 shareholders who vote on his $56 billion pay package next month, the latest attempt by the electric vehicle firm to build support for the remuneration after a court overturned it.
The impending vote, whose results will be presented at the company's annual meeting on June 13, is viewed as a referendum on Musk's leadership, with investors concerned that he is distracted by his other projects and that his often contentious comments are harming Tesla's reputation and sales.
The corporation is launching an extraordinary and public campaign to build support for Musk's compensation. The company's board has justified the remuneration package by stating that it is vital to ensure Musk prioritizes Tesla over his other obligations.
Tesla has urged shareholders to repeat their approval of the record-breaking remuneration package established in 2018, which was overturned by a judge who determined the package was arranged by directors who appeared to be subservient to Musk.
"Don't delay, vote today!" Tesla said on Tuesday
The tour of Tesla's Cybertruck and Model Y assembly lines in Texas, led by Musk and other officials, will take place on June 12, the day before Tesla's annual shareholders' meeting, according to the company's website.
The move is "the last-ditch effort to try to charm retail investors," according to Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, a corporate governance consultancy firm. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, nonprofessional shareholders, including individual investors, own 44% of Tesla's common stock, the highest percentage among the ten largest businesses in the S&P 500.
"I think it just speaks to his arrogance that he believes that simply being in his presence would result in the desired outcome. I don't believe he's altering anybody's vote by doing this."
Glass Lewis, a proxy consulting firm, encouraged Tesla shareholders on Saturday to oppose Musk's pay plan, citing his "slate of extraordinarily time-consuming projects." "His focus is clearly not just on Tesla," said Kristin Hull, the founder of Tesla investor Nia Impact Capital, who voted against the compensation plan. Musk, the world's richest person, is also the CEO of SpaceX, acquired Twitter in 2022, and founded AI company xAI, which raised $6 billion in its most recent fundraising round.
Musk owns approximately 13% of Tesla, and executing his stock options would result in him owning 22% of the firm. He has promised to develop artificial intelligence technologies outside of Tesla if he does not receive 25% voting power, which would need some of the stock options in the incentive package. Building AI initiatives outside of Tesla might harm Tesla's valuation, which is based on its AI capabilities in self-driving technology. Musk stated that the world's most valuable automobile manufacturer would be "worth basically zero" without full self-driving capability.
