May 29, 2024
Tesla’s $56 Billion Pay Package for Elon Musk Opposed by Calpers CEO
Bloomberg News
,![A 2024 Tesla Model 3 during the Montreal Electric Vehicle Show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Friday, April 19, 2024. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is offering more tax breaks to automotive firms to put their electric vehicle factories in Canada, as companies including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. consider lucrative new investments. Photographer: Graham Hughes/Bloomberg, Bloomberg A 2024 Tesla Model 3 during the Montreal Electric Vehicle Show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Friday, April 19, 2024. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is offering more tax breaks to automotive firms to put their electric vehicle factories in Canada, as companies including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. consider lucrative new investments. Photographer: Graham Hughes/Bloomberg](/polopoly_fs/1.2078686.1717025900!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/a-2024-tesla-model-3-during-the-montreal-electric-vehicle-show-in-montreal-quebec-canada-on-friday-april-19-2024-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-is-offering-more-tax-breaks-to-automotive-firms-to-put-their-electric-vehicle-factories-in-canada-as-companies-including-honda-motor-co-and-toyota-motor-corp-consider-lucrative-new-investments-photographer-graham-hughes-bloomberg.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- Calpers, the largest state public pension fund in the US, tentatively plans to vote against a proposed $56 billion pay package for Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, a sign of opposition from a major investor.
“As of today, minus the conversation that has yet to happen with Tesla, we would not be voting in favor of that proposal,” Marcie Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC. “We do not believe that the compensation is commensurate with the performance of the company.”
Frost’s statement adds to the pushback facing the controversial pay proposal, which a Calpers spokesperson said it also opposed when it was originally crafted in 2018. Shareholder adviser Glass Lewis & Co. similarly has urged Tesla investors to reject the package, citing its “excessive size” and the dilutive effect upon exercise.
Calpers owns roughly 9.5 million Tesla shares, making it among the electric vehicle maker’s 30 largest investors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Musk criticized Frost’s remarks, saying in a post on his social media platform X that the pension fund “is breaking their word.”
“What she’s saying makes no sense, as all the contractual milestones were met,” Musk said on the platform, formerly known as Twitter.
A Delaware judge voided Musk’s 2018 pay deal earlier this year, saying investors weren’t fully informed of key details.
Tesla’s board is putting it up for another vote at its annual shareholders meeting on June 13. If it’s rejected, Musk has threatened to develop some products outside of Tesla.
--With assistance from Dana Hull.
(Corrects third paragraph reference to Calpers vote on pay package in 2018, which it opposed.)
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