Nasdaq Headed for Worst Week Since ‘Liberation Day’ as Tech Pressure Continues; Tesla Stock Falls After Vote on Musk’s Pay

Tesla Shareholders Back Elon Musk’s Big New Pay Package

36 minutes ago

The fate of Tesla—or, at least, the answer to the question of whether its chief Elon Musk stays or walks—may have been settled at today’s shareholder vote.

A preliminary tally on this year’s 14 proposals, which include giving Musk greater control over Tesla (TSLA) as well as a trillion-dollar pay package, was rolling in late Thursday at a shareholder meeting that started after the close of trading. In that vote, the company said, more than 75% of voters moved to approve the proposal.

The crowd assembled for the meeting cheered as the result was announced. A final count will likely be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a few days.

Though shareholders voted with Tesla to approve a past compensation deal for Musk on more than one occasion, the days leading up to today’s shareholder vote were been fraught with tension. The EV-company-with-robotics-and-AI-ambitions made clear its position that it would be lost without Musk at the helm and that the incentives it recommends are necessary to retain him.

“We believe that Elon’s singular vision is vital to navigating this critical inflection point,” Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, members of the special committee of Tesla’s board of directors, wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Counterpoint Global, an investment team within Morgan Stanley Investment Management, as well as the Florida State Board and Schwab Asset Management, said they intend to cast their votes in favor of Musk’s compensation package.

On the other side, major proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS advised shareholders to vote against the compensation package, citing dilution and a lack of key-person risk mitigation. Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund disclosed earlier this week that it voted against the pay package for those reasons and others. The New York State Common Retirement Fund earlier this month said it intends to vote against it, and exhorted others to do the same.

The trillion-dollar vote drew in bettors across prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi, and Robinhood—all of which overwhelmingly indicated the expectation—at 90% or higher—that Musk’s pay deal will pass.

Shares of Tesla fell about 3% Friday morning, bringing the stock’s year-to-date return to about 7%.

-Crystal Kim

U.S. Stock Futures Point Lower

1 hr 47 min ago

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2% in premarket trading on Friday.

S&P 500 futures were off 0.4%.

Nasdaq 100 contracts dropped 0.6%.