EXCLUSIVE: Benzinga Readers Who Own Tesla Shares Overwhelmingly Voted This Way On Elon Musk's Compensation Package

Electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc TSLA will host its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday.

This year's event includes a vote on a new compensation package for CEO Elon Musk. The last compensation plan, from 2018, made Musk one of the richest people in the world but included metrics many thought were unattainable.

A judge voided the plan earlier this year after a shareholder challenged the plan for not being properly disclosed to investors before it was approved.

Shareholders will now vote on whether Musk should get a new, similar plan that could help keep him at Tesla and see more of his attention put on his other projects (i.e., X and xAI).

Benzinga recently polled its social media followers to see how they were voting, asking: "Did you vote on Elon Musk's pay compensation package?"

45.1% voted ‘yes’ for Musk's pay.
8.6% voted against Musk's pay:
7.8% of Tesla shareholders didn't vote:
38.4% were not a Tesla shareholder

The poll found that of the 250+ responses on X, 61.6% owned Tesla shares. The large majority of those Tesla shareholders said they voted in favor of the new compensation plan.

When taking out the non-Tesla shareholders, the poll reveals that 73.2% of shareholders voted for the new compensation plan, 14% voted against and 12.7% didn't vote.

This could bode well for the shareholder vote, which will be revealed Thursday. Many top investors have voted in support of the compensation and spoken publicly in support to encourage shareholders to vote.

Tesla has also launched a campaign urging shareholders to vote, sharing instructions on how to vote, and placing ads on X.

Why It's Important: Analysts and Tesla fans, alike, worry that if Musk doesn’t get the compensation plan, he’ll spend less time with Tesla or leave the company in the future.

Musk owns 12.97% of Tesla shares and wants his ownership or voting control up to 25%.

Portions of the new compensation plan would see Musk unlock more shares and ownership without being able to immediately sell.

Musk is currently the third richest man in the world, worth $198 billion according to Bloomberg.

Unlike other CEOs who receive high salary and other compensation, Musk has grown his wealth through ownership stakes in his company and compensation rewards.

A list of the top 10 highest paid CEOs in 2023 listed Musk's compensation for 2023 at $0.

Follow Benzinga on X for more polls.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares are up 5% to $179.10 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $138.80 to $299.29.

TSLATesla Inc

$423.28-2.96%

Overview Rating:

Good

100

0100