Musk: Tesla shareholders voting yes for his pay package

Tesla shareholders are voting to approve a $56 billion pay package for Elon Musk and to move the electric vehicle maker’s legal home to Texas, the CEO said on social media, adding that passage was by wide margins.

“Thanks for your support!!” Musk said in his post on X.

Overwhelming shareholder approval of the largest remuneration terms in U.S. corporate history could allay investor concerns about Musk’s future at the company, while giving the electric carmaker ammunition in its fight to reverse a court decision to void the pay package.

Musk would still face a lengthy legal battle to convince the Delaware judge who said the Tesla board was “beholden” to him, while potentially fielding fresh lawsuits over the latest vote.

“Even if the shareholders do approve the old package, it is not clear that the Delaware court will allow that vote to be effective,” said Adam Badawi, a law professor at UC Berkeley.

The result will be announced at a meeting at Tesla’s headquarters in Texas at 4:30 pm (2130 GMT) on Thursday.

A person familiar with the preliminary voting tally said a combination of big institutional investors and retail investor votes got the ‘yes’ result over the line.

Major proxy firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had urged shareholders to reject the pay package, and large investors including Norway’s sovereign wealth fund had said they would vote against it.

Shareholders are allowed to change their vote up to the start of the annual meeting.

Tesla shareholders also cast ballots on other proposals including the move of its legal headquarters from Delaware to Texas, as well as the re-election of two board members: Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott congratulated Musk after his post, saying on X: “Welcome to a state that has neither a personal nor a corporate income tax.”