Elon Musk’s army of small-investor allies took a victory lap on Thursday as the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO won a critical shareholder vote for his $56 billion pay package despite opposition from major institutions.
Mom-and-pop investors, who hold an unusually high share of the electric-vehicle maker, are typically apathetic toward voting.
But in an unusual show of support, many had been campaigning on social media for weeks for the celebrity billionaire CEO’s pay to be reinstated after a Delaware judge voided it in January because she found that Musk had improperly controlled the process.
“We have the most awesome shareholder base,” Musk said at the shareholder meeting after the vote was announced. “Hot damn, I love you guys,” he said to a roaring and applauding crowd of investors at the Tesla factory in Austin, Texas.
Backing from retail shareholders along with support from some big institutional investors was key to turning the vote in Musk’s favor, a source familiar with the preliminary tally told Reuters on Wednesday, after the CEO tipped off on social media platform X that the proposal was garnering huge support.
“Tesla’s retail shareholders aren’t just passively adding shares to their portfolio. They’re participating in running and advancing the company,” said Omar Qazi in a post on X from the handle @WholeMarsBlog. “They vote. They tell their friends. It’s not just about investing. It’s a movement,” said Qazi who has more than 476,000 followers.
Institutional investors have been divided on the issue
