Elon Musk pleads with Tesla investors to approve his $1 trillion pay package, blasts shareholder advisory firms

Tesla's earnings call saw a sudden intervention from Elon Musk recently, with the CEO of the company pleading with investors to approve his mega pay package of $1 trillion.

Hijacking the Tesla earnings call towards the end, the world's richest person also went off on shareholder advisory firms who have advised against the proposal.

His intervention came in an otherwise one-dimensional call, which was largely based on Tesla’s artificial intelligence, humanoid robot and self-driving initiatives.

“There needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane,” Elon Musk said, interrupting the chief financial officer, as the more than hour-long call came towards its end.

Shareholders will vote on Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package at Tesla on November 6.

Tesla Q2 earnings

Tesla’s earnings report was largely disappointing, with profit missing estimates despite record vehicle deliveries. Operating income plunged 40% in the third quarter, reflecting ongoing strains on an electric-vehicle business that’s being buffeted by changing US policies.

Costs are rising sharply for Tesla, with tariffs taking a more than $400 million toll on last quarter’s results. Operating expenses soared 50% to $3.4 billion in the period.

Tesla shares dropped as much as 5.7% shortly after the start of regular trading Thursday. The stock is up almost 9% for the year, trailing the 14% advance by the S&P 500 Index.

‘Unmitigated Concerns’

Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended that investors reject the unprecedented payout to Musk, the value of which is dependent on Tesla reaching market value thresholds and operational milestones. ISS cited “unmitigated concerns” with the magnitude and design of the award, while Glass Lewis took issue with its potential to dilute other shareholders’ ownership.

Musk emphasized, as he has in the past, that sufficient voting control matters more to him than monetary compensation from Tesla.

“I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here, and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no freaking clue,” he said.

After Musk was finished, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja resumed his closing remarks, praising the “amazing job” the special board committee did in constructing the award.

“There’s nothing which gets passed on until the time shareholders make substantial returns,” Taneja said, urging shareholders two more times to vote in favor of the plan.

Musk, 54, ranks No. 1 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of about $455 billion.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)