Investors in the electric-vehicle maker will decide on November 6 whether to approve the package, likely the largest-ever CEO compensation agreement, which critics have called excessive. So far, the Norwegian wealth fund is the largest outside Tesla investor to say how it plans to vote. The next-largest to do so, Baron Capital, on Monday said it would back Musk’s pay package.
The company’s largest institutional investors, including BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, have yet to disclose their voting plans. Tesla’s board is pushing for shareholders to approve the plan, with Chair Robyn Denholm warning last week that Musk could leave the company if the deal is rejected.
While the package could grant stock worth up to $1 trillion over 10 years, the cost of those shares at the time of the award will be deducted, making the value to Musk slightly lower, at up to $878 billion, according to a Reuters analysis.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under 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 on its website.
The fund, Tesla’s seventh-biggest owner with a 1.12% stake worth $17 billion, also voted “no” to Musk’s previous compensation plan, drawing a sharp response from the CEO, who turned down an invitation to a conference in Oslo. Various groups have tried and failed to block record payouts to Musk, including a $56 billion compensation plan for2018 that investors reapproved last year, though legal challenges remain.
–Reuters–
