Won’t somebody please think of the world’s richest man? That, in essence, is Tesla’s pitch as shareholders prepare to vote on Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion pay deal.
The board has warned that if the package is rejected, Musk might quit or lose interest – a threat that has rallied his fan base.
“WE STAND WITH ELON,” declares @TeslaBoomerMama, a self-described “fangirl of Elon” and retail shareholder with over 200,000 followers on X.
The sympathy may be misplaced. Musk already owns almost $200 billion in Tesla stock. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm warns that if Musk walks, the share price would likely tank.
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Perhaps, but so then would Musk’s fortune. Musk’s threat to leave has shades of Blazing Saddles, where the sheriff holds a gun to his own head to get his way.
Prediction markets seem to agree. On Polymarket, bettors put the odds of Musk leaving Tesla in 2025 at just 5 per cent.
[ Tesla chairwoman warns Musk could quit if shareholders reject $1tn pay dealOpens in new window ]
Meanwhile, Tesla’s board – long criticised for its closeness to Musk, and previously rebuked by a Delaware court over his enormous 2018 pay award – is on a charm offensive.
Denholm and colleagues have toured media studios while Optimus, Tesla’s much-hyped humanoid robot, has been handing out gummy bears outside the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Ironically, Morningstar’s Lindsey Stewart notes that Musk would already control roughly 20 per cent of Tesla had he not pledged about a third of his shares as collateral for personal loans.
In effect, shareholders are being asked to restore influence he traded away to finance his own borrowings.
Really, it’s quite the spectacle: retail investors riding to the rescue of the world’s richest man.
