The bank behind the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund has dealt a blow to Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion compensation plan at Tesla. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the sixth-largest Tesla shareholder, is the first major shareholder to publicly vote against Musk’s massive pay package.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, has voted against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion pay package ahead of the electric vehicle company’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for Thursday. The fund, which oversees $2 trillion in assets and is Tesla’s sixth-largest institutional investor with a 1.2 percent stake, expressed concerns about the size of the compensation plan, potential dilution, and the lack of measures to mitigate Musk’s “key person risk” for Tesla.
This is not the first time the Norwegian fund has opposed Musk’s pay plans. In 2024, it voted against his previous compensation package. Recently, leaked messages revealed a chilly exchange between Musk and Norges Bank CEO Nicolai Tangen, with the billionaire telling Tangen that “friends are as friends do.”
Several other investors and proxy firms have also raised objections to Musk’s proposed pay package. The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the New York State Retirement Fund have both expressed their opposition. Glass Lewis and ISS, two influential proxy advisory firms, have urged shareholders to vote against the plan, prompting Musk to label them “corporate terrorists” during a recent earnings call.
However, the compensation plan has garnered support from some notable investors, including Florida’s State Board of Administration and ARK Invest’s Cathy Wood. Tesla’s two largest institutional shareholders, Vanguard and BlackRock, have not yet disclosed how they intend to vote on the matter.
Under the proposed 2025 CEO compensation plan, Musk could receive approximately $1 trillion worth of Tesla shares if he achieves a series of ambitious targets over the next decade. These goals include increasing Tesla’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion, selling 1 million Optimus robots, significantly boosting annual earnings to surpass those of tech giants like Meta and Google, and planning his own succession.
The fight over Musk’s pay package is heating up as the shareholder meeting approaches. The outcome of the vote will have significant implications for both Musk and Tesla, as the company continues to navigate the rapidly evolving electric vehicle market and faces increasing competition from established automakers and startups alike.
The Norway sovereign wealth fund’s decision to vote against the pay package adds to the growing pressure on Tesla’s board and shareholders to carefully consider the long-term implications of such an unprecedented compensation plan. As the shareholder meeting unfolds, the world will be watching to see whether Musk’s vision for Tesla’s future will be embraced or met with resistance.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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