‘We will lose Elon Musk, if…’: Tesla Board chairman sends SOS to shareholders

Tesla Board chairman Robyn Denholm sent a letter to shareholders asking them to vote for CEO Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion pay package. If they “fail” to do so, he said, Tesla “may lose his time, talent and vision”.

Tesla is set to host its annual shareholder meet on November 6. The shareholder vote for Musk’s pay and other proposals will close at 11:59 p.m.

ET on November 5. “Without Elon, Tesla could lose significant value, as our company may no longer be valued for what we aim to become,” Denholm writes in the letter. Asking shareholders to vote for Musk’s pay package, he said that Musk is key to the future of EV maker as it moves beyond being “just another car company”. “If we fail to foster an environment that motivates Elon to achieve great things through an equitable pay-for-performance plan, we run the risk that he gives up his executive position, and Tesla may lose his time, talent and vision, which have been essential to delivering extraordinary shareholder returns,” he added.

Groups criticize Elon Musk’s 1 trillion pay package

The Tesla board outlined the $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk in September this year. The proposed plan consists of 12 tranches of shares granted to Musk if Tesla hits certain milestones.

If approved, Musk will be eligible for up to $1 trillion in stock if he meets key performance targets, including growing the company to an $8.5 trillion market cap, more than a 500% increase from today’s valuation.However, several groups and advisory firms have opposed Musk’s $1 trillion pay package. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) urged shareholders to vote against the package stating: “Although one of the main reasons for this award is to retain Musk and keep his time and attention on Tesla instead of his other business ventures, there are no explicit requirements to ensure that this will be the case”. It cited “unmitigated concerns” with the plan’s magnitude and design.Slamming the proxy firms like ISS, Musk called them “corporate terrorists”. “I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis who have no freaking clue. I mean, those guys are corporate terrorists”, he recently said.