The manager of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund—one of the largest investors in the electric automaker Tesla—said it would vote against the proposed $1 trillion performance-based remuneration package for CEO Elon Musk at the annual general meeting on Thursday.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk—consistent with our views on executive compensation,” Norges Bank Investment Management said in an update posted to its website.
“We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.”
Tesla shareholders will decide in its annual meeting on November 6 whether to approve the large pay package to Musk.
Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm warned in a letter to investors last week that Musk could leave as the electric vehicle maker’s CEO if the pay package was not approved.
She said that Musk was “critical” to the company’s success and warned that the company could lose his “time, talent and vision” if he was not properly incentivized to stay.
The proposed package could total up to $1 trillion depending on if Tesla meets ambitious performance targets.
It would give the Tesla CEO an additional 12 percent stake in the company if it reaches specific milestones including in robotics, and grows to a stock market value of $8.5 trillion over the next 10 years, nearly eight times its current valuation.
More to follow.
