The car giant’s chief executive was backed by his team and got a whopping wage boost totalling over $56billion as a beaming Musk declared his love for everyone who helped him get the cash boost.
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Tesla confirmed the proposals to allow the billionaire to get his hands on the bumper pay deal as well as announcing new plans to legally move the company to Texas.
Giddy shareholders chanted “Elon Musk, Elon Musk” after the preliminary results were read out during the annual Tesla meeting at its Austin, Texas headquarters.
The boss won an overwhelming 77 per cent of the votes, a company filing revealed.
Speaking to shareholders after the results were announced, an always gracious Musk said: “Hot damn, I love you guys.”
The sensational plan was first laid out in 2018 when he agreed to the gargantuan pay packet but the celebrations were quickly halted when the deal was voided.
A judge in Delaware, Tesla’s former home, disregarded the pay deal in January as he voiced concerns over the board’s transparency and independence.
For months, a combative Musk has fought alongside Tesla’s board trying to convince their shareholders to back the deal.
Hoping with their approval his chances of a successful appeal to the Delaware ruling would be massively boosted.
Wall Street have regarded the blockbuster vote as a sign of the company’s confidence in Musk’s leadership.
With Daniel Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities, saying the landslide vote was a “pop-the-champagne moment for Musk and Tesla shareholders”.
Ives added: “Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla. Shareholders spoke loud.”
Despite the business mogul banking himself a few extra billions, shares in the carmaker have seen a damaging decline of around 60 per cent from 2021.
In part due to electric vehicle sales slowing down as a whole but also due to claims that Musk has viewed his other businesses as more important.
His ambitious battle to streak ahead in the artificial intelligence market and improve the way his X social media platform is viewed have taken up much of his time.
But booming companies SpaceX and Neuralink are thought to have been his main focus in the past 12 months.
Tesla’s board are believed to have voted in favour for the pay packet due to the company meeting all of Musk’s ambitious targets.
They claim to have hit their goals for the market value, revenue and profitability with shares in the company also rising.
Shareholder Ron Baron of Baron Capital, voted for the pay upgrade citing Musk’s “relentless drive and uncompromising standards”.
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However, even with the obvious backing of the majority of his investors, Musk might be without the extra cash for some time.
Adam Badawi, a law professor at UC Berkeley, said: “Even if the shareholders do approve the old package, it is not clear that the Delaware court will allow that vote to be effective.”
It comes as The Sun reported last month that Musk’s “indestructible” Tesla Cybertruck has endured a troubling first six months on the road.
The beast of a car has been plagued by massive crashes, getting stuck on the roads, broken wheels and even reports of “critical steering issues”.
Although, many of the blunders appear to have been caused by driver error as overzealous owners attempt to put the 7,000lbs machines through their paces off-road.
It was also revealed in April that Tesla was to lay off more than ten per cent of its global workforce, according to reports.
It is said to be shedding about 14,000 jobs but it is not yet known where they will be lost across the business.
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