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Elon Musk’s post as Tesla’s chairman is on the line at 2018 shareholders meeting

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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.

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“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. 

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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.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm on self-driving prowess

“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet,” BoA wrote.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla received a tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm Bank of America on Wednesday, as it reinitiated coverage on Tesla shares with a bullish stance that comes with a ‘Buy’ rating and a $460 price target.

In a new note that marks a sharp reversal from its neutral position earlier in 2025, the bank declared Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology the “leading consumer autonomy solution.”

Analysts highlighted Tesla’s camera-only architecture, known as Tesla Vision, as a strategic masterstroke. While technically more challenging than the multi-sensor setups favored by rivals, the vision-based approach is dramatically cheaper to produce and maintain.

This cost edge, combined with Tesla’s rapidly expanding real-world data engine, positions the company to scale robotaxis far more profitably than competitors, BofA argues in the new note:

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“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet.”

The bank now attributes roughly 52% of Tesla’s total valuation to its Robotaxi ambitions. It also flagged meaningful upside from the Optimus humanoid robot program and the fast-growing energy storage business, suggesting the auto segment’s recent headwinds, including expired incentives, are being eclipsed by these higher-margin opportunities.

Tesla’s own data underscores exactly why Wall Street is waking up to FSD’s potential. According to Tesla’s official safety reporting page, the FSD Supervised fleet has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles driven.

Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles

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That total ballooned from just 6 million miles in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and a staggering 4.25 billion in 2025 alone. In the first 50 days of 2026, owners added another 1 billion miles — averaging more than 20 million miles per day.

This avalanche of real-world, camera-captured footage, much of it on complex city streets, gives Tesla an unmatched training dataset. Every mile feeds its neural networks, accelerating improvement cycles that lidar-dependent rivals simply cannot match at scale.

Tesla owners themselves will tell you the suite gets better with every release, bringing new features and improvements to its self-driving project.

The $460 target implies roughly 15 percent upside from recent trading levels around $400. While regulatory and safety hurdles remain, BofA’s endorsement signals growing institutional conviction that Tesla’s data advantage is not hype; it’s a tangible moat already delivering billions of miles of proof.

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SpaceX IPO could push Elon Musk’s net worth past $1 trillion: Polymarket

The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.

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Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Recent projections have outlined how a potential $1.75 trillion SpaceX IPO could generate historic returns for early investors. The projections suggest the offering would not only become the largest IPO in history but could also result in unprecedented windfalls for some of the company’s key investors.

The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.

As noted in a Polymarket Money analysis, Elon Musk invested $100 million into SpaceX in 2002 and currently owns approximately 42% of the company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation following SpaceX’s potential $1.75 trillion IPO, that stake would be worth roughly $735 billion.

Such a figure would dramatically expand Musk’s net worth. When combined with his holdings in Tesla Inc. and other ventures, a public debut at that level could position him as the world’s first trillionaire, depending on market conditions at the time of listing.

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The Bloomberg Billionaires Index currently lists Elon Musk with a net worth of $666 billion, though a notable portion of this is tied to his TSLA stock. Tesla currently holds a market cap of $1.51 trillion, and Elon Musk’s currently holds about 13% to 15% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, invested $20 million in SpaceX in 2008. Polymarket Money estimates the firm owns between 1.5% and 3% of the private space company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation, that range would translate to approximately $26.25 billion to $52.5 billion in value.

That return would represent one of the most significant venture capital outcomes in modern Silicon Valley history, with a growth of 131,150% to 262,400%.

Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, invested $900 million into SpaceX in 2015 and is estimated to hold between 6% and 7% of the private space firm. At the projected IPO valuation, that stake could be worth between $105 billion and $122.5 billion. That’s a growth of 11,566% to 14,455%.

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Other major backers highlighted in the post include Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Bank of America, and Andreessen Horowitz, each potentially sitting on multibillion-dollar gains.

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Elon Musk hints Tesla investors will be rewarded heavily

“Hold onto your Tesla stock. It’s going to be worth a lot, I think. That’s my bet,” Musk said.

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Credit: Grok

Elon Musk recently hinted that he believes Tesla investors will be rewarded heavily if they continue to hold onto their shares, and he reiterated that in a new interview that the company released on its social accounts this week.

Musk is one of the most successful CEOs in the modern era and has mammothed competitors on the Forbes Net Worth List over the past year as his holdings in his various companies have continued to swell.

Tesla investors, especially those who have been holding shares for several years, have also felt substantial gains in their portfolios. Over the past five years, the stock is up over 78 percent. Since February 2019, nearly seven years ago to the day, the stock is up over 1,800 percent.

Musk said in the interview:

“Hold onto your Tesla stock. It’s going to be worth a lot, I think. That’s my bet.”

It’s no secret Musk has been extremely bullish on his own companies, but Tesla in particular, because it is publicly traded.

However, the company has so many amazing projects that have an opportunity to revolutionize their respective industries. There is certainly a path to major growth on Wall Street for Tesla through its various future projects, including Optimus, Cybercab, Semi, and Unsupervised FSD.

  • Optimus (Tesla’s humanoid robot): Musk has discussed its potential for tasks like childcare, walking dogs, or assisting elderly parents, positioning it as a massive long-term driver of company value.
  • Cybercab (Tesla’s robotaxi/autonomous ride-hailing vehicle): a fully autonomous vehicle geared specifically for Tesla’s ride-sharing ambitions.
  • Semi (Tesla’s electric truck, with mentions of expansion, like in Europe): brings Tesla into the commercial logistics sector.
  • Unsupervised FSD (Full Self-Driving software achieving full autonomy without human supervision): turns every Tesla owner’s vehicle into a fully-autonomous vehicle upon release

These projects specifically are some of the highest-growth pillars Tesla has ever attempted to develop, especially in Musk’s eyes, as he has said Optimus will be the best-selling product of all-time.

Many analysts agree, but the bullish ones, like Cathie Wood of ARK Invest, are perhaps the one who believes Tesla has incredible potential on Wall Street, predicting a $2,600 price target for 2030, but this is not even including Optimus.

She told Bloomberg last March that she believes that the project will present a potential additive if Tesla can scale faster than anticipated.

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