Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Tesla Pay Gets Approved, But Key Shareholder Support Drops

Tesla shareholders approved a massive pay package for CEO Elon Musk last week. The deal could net Musk up to $1 trillion in company stock. However, support for the plan was lower than his prior 2018 pay vote.

Excluding votes from insiders, about 66.9% of shares voted in favor. This is down from 73% support in 2018. This decline follows a difficult period for Tesla. The company has seen sales slump. Experts link the slump partly to Musk’s controversial political actions and rhetoric. The Tesla brand value has also declined recently.

Despite the drop, experts view the near-70% vote as strong support. Many investors feel Tesla and Elon Musk are “inextricably linked.” They worried that rejecting the package might risk his departure.

The new pay package uses 12 tranches of shares. Musk gets the shares if Tesla hits tough financial milestones over ten years. The first award requires Tesla to reach a massive $2 trillion market capitalization. This is about $500 billion more than its current value. Top proxy advisory firms had recommended shareholders vote against the plan