“If this was back in 2018, I would have voted yes, but today, after everything that has happened, I voted no,” says investor Ven Kolli, an IT consultant from Colorado, who owns one of the company’s cars and first purchased Tesla stock nearly a decade ago.
Though the 42-year-old expects the deal to pass, he hopes a tough vote will send a message to Tesla’s board, which for years has faced concerns that it does not exert sufficient oversight of Mr Musk. He is not worried about losing Mr Musk, believing Tesla has gotten to a point where it can succeed without him.
“Since the Twitter acquisition closed, a lot of the decisions made specifically by Elon Musk have been very questionable,” he says.
“Ultimately, while he’s CEO, his responsibility is to Tesla and I think the board has lost sight of that,” he says. “It’s my opportunity to let my voice be heard, as small as it may be.”
Legal experts say it is not clear if the court will accept the re-vote, which is not binding, and allow the company to restore the pay package. At least one shareholder has sued over the company’s move already.
But Tesla appears to be hoping that a resounding victory will help as its legal fight continues, says Ann Lipton, law professor at Tulane University.
“If shareholders overwhelmingly approve the pay package then Musk is hoping, and maybe he’s right, that the court will think twice about overturning it again,” she says.
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