Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk created a furor earlier this month by seeking more voting control for himself in the electric-vehicle company, and he gave additional color on it on the fourth-quarterearnings calland a post on X, formerly Twitter.
What Happened: Musk is wary of some random shareholder advisory firm voting him out at a stage when he grows Tesla into an “artificial intelligence and robotics juggernaut of truly immense capability and power.”
He expressed the fears while answering a shareholder question on theearnings callon whether retail shareholders should be concerned about his unwillingness to expand the company’s AI and robotics capacity if he was not vested with 25% voting control.
Musk noted that Tesla has had a lot of challenges with Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, both of which are proxy advisory firms that advise shareholders as to how to vote at corporate shareholder meetings.
“There’s a lot of activists that basically infiltrate those organizations and have, you know, strange ideas about what should be done,” the billionaire said.
“So, you know — so, I want to have enough to be influential — like, if we could do a dual-class stock, that would be ideal. I’m not looking for additional economics; I just want to be an effective steward of very powerful technology.”
The 25% number was roughly picked, Musk said. “That’s not so much that I can control the company even if I go bonkers. And if I’m, like, mad, they can throw me out, but — but it’s enough that I have a strong influence,” he said.
Musk said he is aiming for a “strong influence” but not “control.”
See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tesla Stock
Clarifying further in the X post, he said, “This is my concern re Tesla voting control. Money doesn’t matter if powerful technology goes awry.”
This is my concern re Tesla voting control. Money doesn’t matter if powerful technology goes awry. https://t.co/vJKrcx03Wg
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2024
Why It’s Important: Critics, including CNBC’s Jim Cramer took exception to Musk’s demand for more control. and saw it impacting the company’s stock price. He also brought up the possibility of Tesla being booted out of the “Magnificent Seven” list of the biggest high-profile…
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