Elon Musk Begs Tesla Shareholders to Vote for His $56 Billion Pay Package

He’s willing to sweeten the deal.

Money, Please

Elon Musk wants to award himself with a boatload of money.

The pay package he’s trying to push through at Tesla is valued at up to $56 billion in stock options — which would be more than any corporate CEO in the United States by an astounding margin.

But before that can happen, the automaker’s shareholders need to give it their seal of approval. And so Musk is doing his best to get out the vote, offering shareholders the opportunity to win a tour of the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, that’s personally led by him and chief designer Franz von Holzhausen — a very glad-handing way of securing approval.

Technically, members don’t actually need to vote in favor of Musk’s package to enter, according to Tesla’s website. Instead, they just need to prove they voted their shares. But clearly, Musk has offered the tour with a little wink, safe in the knowledge that it’ll encourage his many ardent acolytes to turn out and approve the multi-billion dollar compensation.

State Hate

Yet, there’s more at stake than Musk’s share of the dough. Another significant item on the list for the upcoming shareholder meeting, set for June 13, is Tesla’s plan to move its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas.

Why? Again, the pay package. Musk’s compensation was originally approved by Tesla shareholders in 2018, but ended up getting voided by a Delaware judge this January, who thought that Musk’s ties with the board were too close and influential and that the sum was “unfathomable.”

This enraged Musk.

“Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” he tweeted, following the decision — which is a little rich, since Delaware is one of the friendliest states to corporations in the country.

Master Plan

Even with the board’s prior approval, the package is looking less like a sure thing this year, with Tesla suffering a horrendous financial quarter while failing to reach delivery and production goals. Musk himself isn’t quite the beloved figure he was back then even among some shareholders — though on the other hand many at the company are terrified of losing him, a fact that he’s seemingly tried to exploit in the past.

The plan also has its influential critics. Proxy-advisory firm Glass Lewis advised shareholders against the pay package — as it did in 2018 — warning that giving that much money to Musk could dilute existing shares in Tesla, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Assuming it does get approved, however, the compensation package will likely face legal challenges, which is why it’s all the more pivotal — to Musk, anyway — that Tesla ditches Delaware for the Lone Star State.

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