Investor's Corner
Elon Musk’s post as Tesla’s chairman is on the line at 2018 shareholders meeting
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to hold its 2018 Annual Shareholders Meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on Tuesday. During the event, which is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. PST, shareholders are expected to hold a vote on a number of executive decisions that can affect the course of the company, including Elon Musk’s position as chairman of Tesla’s board.
Back in April, Tesla shareholder Jing Zhao, who owns 12 shares of the company’s common stock, submitted a proposal to remove and replace Musk as chairman. Musk had been serving as chairman of Tesla’s board for 14 years, starting his tenure in the position back in 2004. According to Zhao’s proposal, having Musk serve as both chairman and CEO at the same time would not be effective for the company as it begins to wade into far more competitive markets. The Tesla shareholder also cited Musk’s involvement with SpaceX and The Boring Company as potential sources of “conflicts” down the road.
Zhao’s proposal got support from proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis. The two agencies also supported the Union-affiliated investment adviser CtW Investment Group’s initiative, which called for the removal of three Tesla board members — Antonio Gracias, James Murdoch, and Kimbal Musk — in the upcoming shareholders meeting over their lack of relevant experience.
Elon Musk, however, might have some powerful supporters when the vote does happen on Tuesday. In a statement to Reuters, Morningstar analyst David Whiston noted that the chances of Musk being voted out of his chairman’s position are rather slim, considering that Tesla’s big investors are fully supporting the serial tech entrepreneur.
“I doubt they would vote against Elon because if you don’t believe in Elon, why are you in the stock?” he said.
One of Tesla’s Top 20 investors echoed the Morningstar analyst’s prediction. Speaking to the publication, the shareholder noted that they are “making a bet” on Elon Musk. The investor also compared Musk to past visionaries in the tech industry, such as Apple’s Steve Jobs.
“We’re making a bet on Elon Musk. These people are geniuses. You either believe in him or you don’t,” the investor said.
Ultimately, the results of Tuesday’s votation might be determined by the votes cast by funds run by T. Rowe Price Group and Fidelity Investments, both of which could be considered as wild cards among Tesla’s investors. T. Rowe Price owned about 9% of Tesla stock as of the end of March, while Fidelity Investments commanded 8%, making them two of Tesla’s biggest shareholders. A vote from these firms supporting or objecting to Musk’s removal from his chairman post could sway the decision either way.
Musk debuted the production ready Model 3 on June 28 and handed over the first 30 vehicles.
Tesla’s is currently taking on its biggest challenge to date — mass-producing the Model 3, its most disruptive vehicle yet. The compact electric car has had multiple setbacks over the past few quarters, but developments over the past month have been encouraging. Tesla, for one, has maintained its goal of producing the 5,000 Model 3 per week by the end of Q2 2018. Orders for the dual-motor AWD and Performance Model 3 have also been opened for reservation holders.
The company has also registered more than 18,000 new Model 3 VINs in May, a feat that took Tesla until March 2018 to accomplish. A leaked email from Elon Musk also revealed that Tesla has been producing a consistent rate of 500 Model 3 per day, or 3,500 vehicles per week. Lastly, reports at the end of May suggested that Tesla had flown in six airplanes’ worth of new robots and equipment from Europe in order to help address bottlenecks at Gigafactory 1.
Tesla shares are down 15% over the past 12 months, contrasting with the S&P 500 index, which has gained 12% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has gained 16% during the same period.
As of writing, Tesla stock is trading up 1.55% at $296.35 per share.
Elon Musk
Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’
“Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session,” Cramer said.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest synopsis from Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer, who finally realized something that many fans of the company have known all along: it’s not a car company. Instead, it’s a robotics company.
In a recent note that was released after Tesla reported Earnings in late January, Cramer seemed to recognize that the underwhelming financials and overall performance of the automotive division were not representative of the current state of affairs.
Instead, we’re seeing a company transition itself away from its early identity, essentially evolving like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
The narrative of the Earnings Call was simple: We’re not a car company, at least not from a birds-eye view. We’re an AI and Robotics company, and we are transitioning to this quicker than most people realize.
Tesla stock gets another analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like it
Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call featured plenty of analysis from CEO Elon Musk and others, and some of the more minor details of the call were even indicative of a company that is moving toward AI instead of its cars. For example, the Model S and Model X will be no more after Q2, as Musk said that they serve relatively no purpose for the future.
Instead, Tesla is shifting its focus to the vehicles catered for autonomy and its Robotaxi and self-driving efforts.
Cramer recognizes this:
“…we got results from Tesla, which actually beat numbers, but nobody cares about the numbers here, as electric vehicles are the past. And according to CEO Elon Musk, the future of this company comes down to Cybercabs and humanoid robots. Stock fell more than 3% the next day. That may be because their capital expenditures budget was higher than expected, or maybe people wanted more details from the new businesses. At this point, I think Musk acolytes might be more excited about SpaceX, which is planning to come public later this year.”
He continued, highlighting the company’s true transition away from vehicles to its Cybercab, Optimus, and AI ambitions:
“I know it’s hard to believe how quickly this market can change its attitude. Last night, I heard a disastrous car company speak. Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session. I didn’t like it as a car company. Boy, I love it as a Cybercab and humanoid robot juggernaut. Call me a buyer and give me five robots while I’m at it.”
Cramer’s narrative seems to fit that of the most bullish Tesla investors. Anyone who is labeled a “permabull” has been echoing a similar sentiment over the past several years: Tesla is not a car company any longer.
Instead, the true focus is on the future and the potential that AI and Robotics bring to the company. It is truly difficult to put Tesla shares in the same group as companies like Ford, General Motors, and others.
Tesla shares are down less than half a percent at the time of publishing, trading at $423.69.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
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Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
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Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020.
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees
As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay.
As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.
The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.
Other settlement terms still intact
The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million.
Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”
The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.
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