Elon Musk says Tesla stockholders approving his $56 billion pay package by “wide margins”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said late Wednesday that the electric vehicle company’s shareholders were voting to approve his multibillion-dollar pay package by “wide margins,” in a post on his social media platform X ahead of the vote’s conclusion.

“Both Tesla shareholder resolutions are currently passing by wide margins!” Musk wrote, referring to resolutions to approve his pay package worth as much as $56 billion and a plan to shift Tesla’s place of incorporation from New Castle, Delaware to Austin, Texas.

Official vote results haven’t been released but Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting is slated for Thursday afternoon.

Tesla has campaigned to persuade shareholders to approve Musk’s giant compensation package.

The company said on an annual meeting website that the “future value we are poised to deliver for you is at risk,” adding, “We need your vote NOW to protect Tesla and your investment.”

Tesla also launched a sweepstakes of sorts in which 15 investors who vote would be randomly picked for a tour of Tesla’s plant in Austin personally led by Musk and vehicle designer Franz von Holzhausen.

Shareholders overwhelmingly backed the Musk compensation plan in March 2018, but it was struck down by a Delaware judge in January.

This year’s vote was expected to be closer than the 2018 ballot after influential advisory firms Investor Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis came out against the windfall

ISS dismissed the proposal as “excessive” and Glass Lewis wrote in a 71-page report, shared with CBS MoneyWatch, that Tesla shareholders risk stock dilution if Musk is granted the massive stock grant, meaning their shares could be worth less as a result. 

In April, Tesla revived the package, with chair Robyn Denholm imploring investors to “fix this issue” after the Delaware ruling.

He said in a letter to shareholders that the firm had “created more than $735 billion in value” in the previous six years.