Tesla and Elon Musk Fire Back at Institutional Investors in Argument over Massive Pay Package Scott Olson/Getty Images

Tesla and CEO Elon Musk are pushing back against institutional investors who have expressed opposition to Musk’s disputed $58 billion compensation package from 2018.

Investors Business Daily reports that the electric vehicle giant Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk are embroiled in a heated battle with institutional investors over Musk’s 2018 pay package, which is currently valued at around $45 billion. The compensation deal has come under scrutiny after a Delaware court voided the plan earlier this year, deeming it excessive and unfair to Tesla investors.

In response to a report by proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis, which called the pay deal “excessive” and cited its “dilutive impact” on current shareholders, Tesla fired back with a detailed letter to shareholders. The company alleged that Glass Lewis “omits key considerations, uses faulty logic and relies on speculation and hypotheticals.” Tesla argued that Musk’s leadership has resulted in more than $735 billion in market value for shareholders in less than six years.

Musk himself took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to air his grievances, calling out the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) for voting against the pay package. “Shame on them, they have no honor,” Musk wrote, accusing the largest public pension fund in the U.S. of breaking the deal. He also referred to shareholders who approved the package in 2018 but are now voting against it as “oathbreakers.”

Tesla has been working to drum up support from its retail investor base, which currently owns around 30 percent of the company’s stock. The Tesla board, led by Chair Robyn Denholm, plans to travel the world in the coming weeks to gather support from shareholders ahead of the annual meeting on June 13.

Tesla's terrible financial performance in the first quarter of 2024 is seen as a sign of overall weakness in the electric vehicle market.

Read more at Investors Business Daily here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.

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