On June 13th, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk celebrated his victory in a wage vote by dancing on the stage of the general meeting.
During the meeting, Tesla officially announced that Musk’s wage plan had passed at the general meeting. However, the approval rate was not disclosed. In 2018, 73% of shareholders voted in favor of Musk’s wage plan.
Immediately after announcing the vote results, Musk took to the stage and danced to express his gratitude to the shareholders.
This vote essentially became a referendum on reaffirming Musk.
The Tesla board convinced shareholders that the wage plan should be re-approved to motivate Musk.
With Musk’s strong leadership, shareholders also seemed to have voted in favor, believing that Musk should continue to lead Tesla.
Currently, Musk holds about 13% of Tesla’s shares. With the re-approval of this wage plan, Musk’s stake is expected to rise to over 20%.
However, Musk is demanding more shares. He argues that he must secure more than 25% of Tesla’s shares as strong leadership is necessary to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles.
Musk’s victory in the de facto re-election vote removed uncertainties, which is expected to impact Tesla’s stock price positively.
Tesla’s stock price surged about 3% in regular trading that day and rose about 1% after-hours trading.
Worth a total of $56 billion, Musk’s wage plan was approved through the board and the general meeting in 2018 but was nullified after minor shareholder Richard Tornetta won a preliminary victory in a lawsuit requesting its invalidation in January.
As a result, Tesla put it to a vote again at the annual general meeting.