Tesla’s latest earnings call turned into a meltdown when CEO Elon Musk crashed the conversation near the end, begging shareholders to greenlight his eye-popping $1 trillion compensation package.
Musk didn’t hold back, criticizing advisory firms that want investors to shoot it down .Musk jumped in just as the chat wrapped up after more than an hour, cutting off CFO Vaibhav Taneja. The focus had mostly been on Tesla’s big bets: artificial intelligence, those humanoid robots called Optimus, and the push for fully self-driving cars. But Musk shifted gears hard, stressing why he needs real sway over the company. “You’ve got to have enough votes to make a real difference, but not so much that folks can’t boot me out if I lose my marbles,” Musk said bluntly.
Shareholders get their say on November 6, when they’ll vote on this deal. It’s tied to Tesla hitting goals, like skyrocketing its market value and nailing key business targets.The numbers from the third quarter weren’t very great. Profits fell short of what Wall Street expected, even though Tesla delivered a record number of cars. Operating income fell 40%, led by issues in the electric vehicle world and shifting rules in Washington.Rising costs hit have been another factor too.
Tariffs alone dinged results by over $400 million last quarter. And operating expenses ballooned 50% to $3.4 billion.No surprise, Tesla’s stock took a hit—dropping up to 5.7% right after trading kicked off Thursday. It’s up about 9% so far this year, but that’s lagging behind the S&P 500’s 14% climb.Adding fuel to the fire, top proxy advisors aren’t fans. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis both urged a “no” vote. ISS called out “serious red flags” over the package’s size and setup.
Glass Lewis worried it could water down what everyday shareholders own.Musk fired back without pulling punches. “I’m not okay with putting together an army of robots here, only to get kicked to the curb over dumb advice from ISS and Glass Lewis—they haven’t got a clue,” he snapped.The Tesla boss has said before that power at the company means more to him than the cash.
At 54, Musk tops on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with roughly $455 billion to his name.Once Musk complteted this rant, Taneja picked up where he left off, giving props to the board’s special team that cooked up the plan. “Nothing moves forward until shareholders see real gains,”
Taneja added, pushing twice for yes votes.This vote could cement Musk’s grip on Tesla or spark more drama in a year full of ups and downs for the EV giant. Investors are watching close—will loyalty to the visionary win out, or will the critics carry the day?
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