(Reuters) — Tesla shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package, the electric vehicle maker said Thursday, a big thumbs-up to his leadership and an enticement for keeping his focus on his biggest source of wealth.
Shareholders also approved a proposal to move the company’s legal home to Texas from Delaware, Tesla said at its annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas. They also approved other proposals including the re-election of two board members: Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Shareholders did increase the level of investor control by passing proposals in favor of shortening board terms to one year and lowering voting requirements for proposals to a simple majority, despite board opposition to both.
Onstage at the meeting, CEO Musk described himself as pathologically optimistic. “If I wasn’t optimistic this wouldn’t exist, this factory wouldn’t exist,” he said to applause. “But I do deliver in the end. That’s the important thing.”
Mr. Musk had tipped off late Wednesday that the proposals were garnering huge support and thanked shareholders. A chart on his social media platform X showed the resolutions were set to pass by wide margins.
Tesla on Thursday did not disclose the voting tallies, which are expected to be revealed in coming days.
The Tesla CEO could still face a long legal fight to convince a Delaware judge who invalidated the package in January, describing it as “unfathomable.” He may also face fresh lawsuits on the package, which would be the largest in U.S. corporate history.
Shareholder approval for the compensation serves as both an endorsement of Musk’s tenure and an acknowledgment that investors do not want to risk the company’s future.
In January, Musk threatened to build AI and robotics products outside of Tesla if he failed to gain enough voting control, which essentially required the 2018 pay package to be approved.
