Tesla Shareholders Vote to Uphold Elon Musk’s $48 Billion Pay Package - WSJ

Tesla TSLA 2.92%increase; green up pointing triangle shareholders voted to reapprove Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package, signaling support for the EV maker’s longtime leader and giving the board ammunition in its fight to preserve the court-rejected compensation plan.

Approval of the company’s proposal was announced at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas.

The company didn’t provide a percentage breakdown of the vote; in 2018, 73% of the voted shares backed it.

After the results were announced, Musk appeared on stage dancing and thanking shareholders: “I just want to start out by saying, ‘Hot damn, I love you guys.’”

Musk appeared in a jovial mood while he talked through the company’s opportunities for growth with self-driving vehicles and robots. “We’re not just opening a new chapter for Tesla. We’re starting a new book,” he said.

The vote followed an intense campaign by the board and Musk to secure shareholder support, and it had become a referendum on Musk’s future at a company he helped build into an electric-vehicle powerhouse.

Tesla’s board had argued that the pay package—representing a sizable portion of Musk’s personal wealth—was needed to motivate him to continue to lead the world’s most valuable automaker long term. 

Tesla shares were up 1% in after-hours trading following news of the voting. The stock has fallen roughly 27% in 2024.

Shareholders also voted in favor of moving the company’s legal home from Delaware to Texas, where Tesla has its headquarters and one of its key factories. The board had urged investors to support the move saying that Texas was Tesla’s “home state.”

via www.wsj.com

The age of Delaware corporate law seems to be coming to an end. It was fun while it lasted. But Texas, Nevada, Wyoming and other states are stepping into the gap Delaware is creating. This probably increases the odds of Delaware judges getting post retirement gigs at Wachtel, Lipton, but its not going make Delaware any more competitive. But that's why we have states.