Tesla CEO Elon Musk To Leave If $56 Billion Pay Package Not Approved

Tesla shareholders will determine the future of Musk's compensation package, valued at up to $56 billion, on June 13. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm has called on the company's shareholders to approve Elon Musk's massive $56 billion pay package or risk driving the billionaire CEO to greener pastures.

This will be the second vote by shareholders on the CEO's pay, after a Delaware judge nullified the first vote earlier this year, citing that the approval process was "deeply flawed."

According to Reuters, Norway's $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Saturday it will vote against the pay package.

Denholm insists that the vote to approve the $56 billion pay package, which would make Musk the most highly compensated chief executive in modern history, is "not about the money." She emphasized, "We all know Elon is one of the wealthiest people on the planet, and he would remain so even if Tesla were to renege on the commitment we made in 2018."

"Elon is not a typical executive, and Tesla is not a typical company," Denholm writes in a letter to shareholders filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as reported by The Verge. "So, the typical way in which companies compensate key executives is not going to drive results for Tesla. Motivating someone like Elon requires something different."

The fund, which holds a 0.98% stake worth $7.7 billion according to fund data, has been critical of excessive CEO pay.

Last year it voted against more than half of U.S. CEO pay packages above $20 million, warning they did not align with long-term value creation for shareholders.

The vote takes place amid ongoing industrial action in Sweden, where Tesla's mechanics have been on strike since October 27, marking one of the country's longest labor disputes.

Norway's wealth fund, which owns 1.5% of all the world's listed stocks, also in 2022 backed a shareholder proposal calling on Tesla to adopt a policy of respecting labour rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining.

On X, Musk has threatened to spin out Tesla's AI work into a separate company if his demands aren't met.