Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which holds a $17 billion stake in Tesla, will vote against the $1 trillion pay package for CEO Elon Musk, calling its size “concerning.”
The fund, the world’s largest, is the carmaker’s seventh-biggest shareholder. Its opposition is a significant blow to the board’s efforts to pass the historic compensation plan at Thursday’s annual meeting.
While acknowledging Musk’s “visionary role,” the fund stated it could not support the award’s “total size” and the “dilution” it would cause. It also flagged the “lack of mitigation of key person risk” as a major issue.
This repeats a conflict from last year over a $56 billion deal. The fund’s “no” vote then prompted a frosty text from Musk to the fund’s CEO, declining a dinner invite and writing, “Friends are as friends do.”
The current proposal, which could make Musk the first trillionaire, is also opposed by advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS, as well as the largest public pension fund in the US, CalPERS.