Tesla shareholders in the Nordic region have gained the ability to vote separately from their brokerages, an uncommon practice that results in a big win for the automaker as its Annual Shareholder Meeting approaches.
Several firms are allowing clients to vote at Tesla’s Shareholder Meeting this week as investors called their respective brokerages and requested the ability to vote.
They usually do not have the option to vote in non-European Annual Meetings, according to Reuters, but they are giving them the option this year.
Both Avanza and Nordnet, two Swedish banking platforms, said they would let investors vote on various items, including CEO Elon Musk’s massive $56 billion pay package, because many called and requested they could vote.
Nordet said that Musk has made it clear that Tesla shareholders should have their votes heard in what could be the most crucial meeting in the company’s history.
Retail shareholders have widely been supportive of Musk receiving his pay package. They already voted to approve it in 2018, but it was pulled after Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick determined the “unfathomable sum” was not reasonable.
Elon Musk’s Tesla pay package gets voided, Judge rules in favor of shareholder
However, larger firms and brokerages have been relatively split between giving Musk his pay package by ratifying it and voting against his pay.
Most recently, Baillie Gifford, which was at one time Tesla’s second-largest shareholder, said it would vote to approve Musk’s package.
Meanwhile, CalSTRS said yesterday that it would not support ratifying Musk’s pay, stating that the stock was massively overvalued.
Whether Tesla is able to get the pay package approved or not remains to be seen. However, Musk said that a vast majority of retail shareholders are interested in ratifying the pay package in a post on X last week:
Yeah, this is not cool.
If they actually surveyed their constituents, they would discover overwhelming support in favor.
So far, roughly 90% of retail shareholders who have voted have voted in favor of both resolutions. The public sentiment is unequivocally supportive.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2024
Evidently, Tesla likely believes individual shareholder votes could be the difference.
The Shareholder Meeting is set for this Thursday.
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