Tesla is struggling with the issue of CEO Musk's compensation package, an internal process that has become well-known news due to a lawsuit by a minority shareholder, and is constantly sparking new issues at Tesla.
The latest progress is that over 5800 Tesla retail shareholders signed a joint letter within just four days, requesting Tesla's board of directors to support Musk's 2018 compensation plan and to develop a new compensation plan for Musk.
The compensation plan was declared invalid by a Delaware judge last week, but retail shareholders believe that Musk has achieved the goals set in the compensation plan, so they hope to confirm the continuation of the promised compensation package.
In addition, these shareholders are also willing to give Musk a 25% voting stake in Tesla to carry out Musk's so-called "secure" artificial intelligence program. They also expressed support for Musk's idea of relocating Tesla's registered address from Delaware to Texas.
Putting interests first
The actions of retail shareholders were first planned by two shareholders, Alexandra Merz and Amy Steffens, who launched a call on the X platform and immediately gained the support of many Tesla shareholders.
5821 Tesla shareholders hold a total of 23377127 Tesla shares, with a total value of $4.23 billion as of Monday's closing of the US stock market.
These shareholders stated in a joint letter that the decision of the US District Judge to revoke the Tesla CEO compensation plan passed in 2018 is a dangerous precedent for all US company shareholders, as the compensation plan was voted upon by Tesla shareholders at the time, and Tesla shareholders elected Tesla's board of directors. Tesla shareholders are also aware of the relationship between board members and Musk.
This statement is clearly a strong support for Musk, unlike some within Tesla who hope to constrain Musk's ideas. But these shareholders are not necessarily Musk's iron fans, but an alliance driven by interests.
In the joint letter, retail shareholders also wrote that Musk's new salary package should include work performance goals, such as FSD (Full auto drive system) performance to achieve Level 5 automatic driving, Tesla's home energy system to achieve the annual kilowatt hour goal, the next generation of electric vehicle platform to achieve mass production or robot Optimus to achieve mass production.
In addition, these shareholders also believe that if Tesla's market value increases by $500 billion or $100 million, or exceeds the market value of companies such as Saudi Aramco and Apple, this milestone growth can be rewarded by granting additional shares to Musk.