Controversy rages over staggering R31bn share 'award' for Elon Musk
Tesla shareholders are being asked to 'award' Elon Musk with $2.6bn in shares. Some say it is too much
Tesla shareholders should turn down a plan to grant Elon Musk a $2.6bn award, the world’s second-biggest proxy adviser recommended, potentially sapping the company’s effort to assure investors that the co-founder isn’t leaving anytime soon. At the current rand-dollar exchange rate, this would amount to a R31bn bonanza for the SA-born tech entrepreneur. This is more than SA's entire 2018-19 budget for agriculture and rural development of R30.2bn, announced in Parliament recently. The award, which could give CEO Musk an additional 12% of Tesla’s shares, is too costly and will dilute other investors, Glass Lewis says in a report to clients obtained by Bloomberg on Monday. Tesla needs majority shareholder approval at a March 21 special meeting to make the grant. “Any relative comparison of the grant’s size would be akin to stacking nickels against dollars,” Glass Lewis says in the February 28 report, questioning why Musk would need one of the largest equity awards in history to keep hi...
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