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For some people, more money equals more problems, but not for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who managed to obtain approval from the electric vehicle maker’s shareholders for his eye-watering $56 billion pay package.
The approval underscores the support that Musk enjoys from Tesla’s retail investor base, many of whom are vocal fans of the mercurial billionaire. The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms.
Onstage at the annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, Musk described himself as pathologically optimistic. “If I wasn’t optimistic this wouldn’t exist, this factory wouldn’t exist,” Musk said to applause. “But I do deliver in the end. That’s the important thing.”
He had tipped off late on Wednesday that the proposals were garnering huge support.
The approval does not, however, resolve a lawsuit on the pay package in a Delaware court, which some legal experts think could stretch out for months. The judge invalidated the pay package in January, describing it as “unfathomable.”
Musk may also face fresh lawsuits on the package, which would be the largest in U.S. corporate history.
“This thing is not over,” said Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School. The Delaware judge will scrutinize the vote and require Tesla to prove the process was not coerced or improperly influenced by Musk, he said.
The judge had criticized Tesla’s board as “beholden” to him, saying the plan was proposed by a conflicted board with close personal and financial ties to its top executive.
Elsewhere, money continues to dominate discussions around the climate crisis as nearly 200 countries will try to agree on a new global goal for funding to fight climate change at this year’s U.N. COP29 climate summit in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Preparatory talks among countries’ climate negotiators – which were due to finish on Thursday in Bonn, Germany – have laid bare the rifts between governments over who should pay, and how much. Keep scrolling down for more.
