Anadolu: The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), announced Tuesday it will vote against Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting later this week.
NBIM, the fund’s manager and one of Tesla’s largest shareholders, announced it had previously voted against Musk’s compensation package as the company’s CEO.
“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,” NBIM said in a statement. “We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.”
Norway’s wealth fund holds a 1.14% stake in Tesla, according to its half-year filings in June. The value of the investment was last declared to be 118.3 billion Norwegian kroner ($11.6 billion).
The $1 trillion stems from an executive compensation plan proposed by Tesla’s board in September. Musk, who is the richest person in the world, would receive 12 tranches of shares if Tesla meets specific performance benchmarks in the next 10 years.
Musk would obtain more than 423 million additional shares as part of the full package. He owns about 13% of the company.
The proposed plan has faced criticism from unions and corporate governance groups, sparking the “Take Back Tesla” protest campaign, which recommends investors reject the plan.
“Tesla is worth more than all other automotive companies combined,” Musk wrote on his US social media company X last month in response to criticism of the pay proposal. “Which of those CEOs would you like to run Tesla? It won’t be me.”
Musk and NBIM, meanwhile, have argued about the package.
After a US judge revoked Musk’s $56 billion compensation agreement last year, NBIM voted against reintroducing it. In the end, the package, the biggest public executive compensation plan in American history, was accepted by Tesla’s shareholders.
