Investor's Corner
Elon Musk gets Robinhood CEO to ‘spill the beans’ on trade restrictions
Tesla CEO Elon Musk convinced Robinhood frontman Vlad Tenev to “spill the beans” regarding spontaneous trade restrictions on stocks during a Clubhouse meeting on Sunday evening. Tenev has been under heavy fire from retail investors who use the Robinhood platform for trading ever since subreddit WallStreetBets has caused several publicly traded companies to skyrocket in value in a pushback against large hedge funds.
“What happened last week? Why can’t people buy the GameStop shares? People demand an answer and want to know the details and the truth,” Musk, who took on a spokesman for the people role, said to Tenev.
After r/WallStreetBets performed a coordinated buying effort on stocks that were being shorted Wall Street hedge funds, shares of GameStop (NASDAQ: GME) skyrocketed. Currently trading at $253, shares were as high as $483.00 at one point, a far cry from the sub $3 levels the stock traded at during Summer 2020.
$GME Stock (Credit: Trading View)
After $GME, $AMC, and many other stocks became the subject of a massive buying pattern from retail investors, Robinhood effectively shutdown trading on these stocks, claiming “high volatility,” sending traders and investors into a frenzy considering their position as a free-market trading platform. Robinhood has been left behind by plenty of people, opting for other brokerages that will allow for restrictions on these stocks without any implications.
Tenev claims that the company “had no choice” on what to do when the platform shut down the possibility of buying certain stocks. After receiving a call from the National Securities Clearing Corporation on Thursday morning, Tenev’s sleep was interrupted by a request for around $3 billion. Musk asked what the reasoning for the sudden capital demand was, and Tenev said he’s still trying to put together the pieces. “Like, it seems a little weird that you’d get a sudden $3 billion demand at 3 in the morning just suddenly out of nowhere,” the Tesla CEO said, according to Yahoo.
“So, it was unprecedented activity. I don’t have the full context about what was going on, what’s going on in the NSCC to make these calculations,” Tenev said to Musk. Eventually, the $3 billion capital raise was negotiated down to less than 50% of that figure. Robinhood and the NSCC landed on $1.4 billion, a slightly easier amount of money to attain.
Elon Musk talks Mars, UFOs, Neuralink, Dogecoin, and more in Clubhouse session
Tenev and Robinhood’s ultimate decision to shut down trading on several stocks that were seeing massive gains for retail investors was questioned by many, including Musk. While the Robinhood traders were making money hand over fist by taking positions in the heavily shorted stocks, hedge funds were feeling the real heat and were taking massive hits. Musk understood the company’s decision to halt trading if Robinhood executives, in fact, had no choice. “If you had no choice, that’s understandable. But then we’ve got to find out why you had no choice and who are these people that are saying you have no choice?”
“To be fair, we were able to open and service our customers. Twenty-four hours later, our team raised over a billion in capital, so that when we do open [Monday] morning, we’ll be able to kind of relax these stringent position limits that we put on these securities on Friday,” Tenev said. “This was a clearinghouse decision, and it was just based on the capital requirements. So, from our perspective, Citadel and other market makers weren’t involved in that.”
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder. He does not own GameStop stock and has no intentions to change any positions within 72 hours.
Investor's Corner
Michael Dell points out practical advantage of Elon Musk’s proposed pay package
As pointed out by the Dell Technologies CEO, Musk will only be rewarded if he delivers extraordinary value to shareholders
Michael Dell has weighed in on Elon Musk’s controversial 2025 CEO Performance Award, offering a grounded perspective amidst the noise surrounding the pay package today.
As pointed out by the Dell Technologies CEO, Musk will only be rewarded if he delivers extraordinary value to shareholders. Musk would quite literally receive no compensation if he fails to achieve his targets.
Dell emphasizes results over rhetoric
Dell shared his thoughts about Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award in a post on X.“Vote FOR Elon Musk. The award is only achieved IF he hits exceptionally ambitious market-cap and operational milestones—if he falls short, he gets nothing,” Dell wrote in his post.
“If he succeeds, shareholders will win big through unprecedented value creation, and he will earn added voting rights to continue driving Tesla’s long-term vision.”
Musk replied with a short “Thanks Michael,” acknowledging Dell’s support. Dell’s framing cuts through the debate surrounding Musk’s compensation, as he simply focused on the incentive structure’s risk-reward balance.
Musk’s ambitious pay package
Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award requires Tesla’s market capitalization to rise from roughly $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion within a decade. This would make Tesla more valuable than any company in history.
Apart from this, Tesla’s operating profit must also grow from $17 billion to $400 billion annually. Musk must also lead the company to several product-related milestones, such as 20 million cumulative vehicle deliveries, 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, 1 million Tesla Bots, and 1 million operating Robotaxis.
So far, proxy advisors Glass Lewis and ISS have urged shareholders to vote against the plan. Some prominent investors, including ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, however, have voiced strong support for the plan. Wood called Musk “the most productive human being on earth,” arguing that his vision and ability to attract talent are central to Tesla’s success.
Investor's Corner
Elon Musk’s 2025 pay package gets support from Tesla’s biggest bull
ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood has previously stated that she is quite confident that the vote on Elon Musk’s 2025 Performance Award would pass.
Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest and one of Tesla’s most ardent bulls, reiterated her support for Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award.
Wood highlighted that Musk’s leadership attracts incredible talent, and it has allowed the companies he leads such as Tesla to become disruptors in their respective fields.
ARK Invest supports Musk’s leadership
Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award has received a mixed reception. Proxy firms such as Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) have stated that they would be voting against Musk’s pay package. Other entities, such as the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA), have stated that they would be voting in favor of Tesla’s proposals.
ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, for her part, has previously stated that she is quite confident that the vote on Elon Musk’s 2025 Performance Award would pass. She also stated that a favorable result to the vote for Musk’s 2025 pay plan would be beneficial for Tesla.
“Elon Musk is the most productive human being on earth. And a human being who attracts incredible talent, people who want to solve the world’s hardest problems. This is a win-win for all of us if Elon succeeds this time,” Wood stated. Musk appreciated Wood’s comments, stating, “Thanks Cathie!” In a post on X.
ARK Invest has been one of Tesla’s most loyal bulls
Tesla is ARK Invest’s single largest holding, with the firm holding an estimated $1 billion worth of TSLA, as noted in an Insider report. Wood previously said she expects the approval of Musk’s pay package to trigger “super-exponential growth” for the automaker, as new products like the Cybercab and Optimus expand Tesla’s offerings.
“Because think about it. It is a convergence among three of our major platforms. So, robots, energy storage, AI, and it’s not stopping with Robotaxis. There’s a story beyond that with humanoid robots, and our $2,600 number has nothing for humanoid robots. We just thought it’d be an investment, period,” Wood stated during an appearance at Steven Bartlett’s podcast The Diary Of A CEO.
Investor's Corner
Tesla VP for AI software makes a case for upcoming Elon Musk shareholder vote
Elluswamy reiterated the idea that Tesla is indeed at a critical point in its history.
Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Software and VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy has shared his thoughts about CEO Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award. While the executive typically discusses topics related to the company’s tech and AI initiaives, Elluswamy made it a point to make a case for Musk’s proposed pay package.
Tesla’s VP for AI Software shares his insights
In a post on X, Elluswamy reiterated the idea that Tesla is indeed at a critical point in its history. This is because the company is changing from a leader in electric vehicles and a major player in the energy storage market to a powerhouse pioneer in robotics that are powered by real-world AI. As per the executive, Elon Musk’s leadership of Tesla is more relevant now more than ever. He also reported an X article he previously wrote about Elon Musk and Tesla.
“This note regarding the importance of Elon leading Tesla is more relevant now than ever. Tesla is at a critical juncture, as it is metamorphosing into the world leader in robotics. Creating large-scale, useful robots requires expertise across engineering design, manufacturing, real-world AI software, chips for AI, and more. Elon is, quite likely, the only person on Earth with deep skills and the right instincts across all these domains,” Elluswamy stated.
A push to support Musk’s 2025 performance award
In recent weeks, Tesla executives such as Board Chair Robyn Denholm have been encouraging TSLA shareholders to vote in favor of Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award, as well as other proposals that the company’s directors have argued are critical to the future of the company. These proposals, Tesla executives noted, are necessary to ensure that the company can achieve the ambitious targets of Elon Musk’s Master Plan Part IV.
Elon Musk’s pay package, as well as the company’s proposals, would be decided at the upcoming 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting, which would be held at Giga Texas on November 6, 2025. Needless to say, Tesla’s future might very well be decided during the event.
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