Why do you need the Tesla pay package / more voting control?

How the answer evolved · oldest first

1. Oct 7, 2024 · Tucker Carlson · asked by Tucker Carlson

   Q: That is encouraging voting for the next month. Am I summarizing correctly?

   Yeah. I mean I formed America PAC really to support core values that I believe in which are I think again very obvious centrist positions. Which is like we in America, I think we want safe cities, secure borders, sensible spending. Tell me where I'm going far right here. We want to have the right to self protection. We should respect the Constitution and not try to break the Constitution. It's there for reason. And …

   Watch on X at 1:46:28 ↗Transcript ↗Unverified timestamp: from archive transcript, not checked against the X video

2. May 20, 2025 · Qatar Economic Forum · asked by Qatar Forum Interviewer

   Q: Does that mean that the value of your pay doesn't have any bearing on your decision?

   Well, that's not really a subject. Subject discussion in this forum. The. I think obviously there should be conversation for if there's, if something incredible is done, that compensation should match that something incredible was done. But I'm confident that whatever the, whatever some activist posing as a judge in Delaware happens to do will not affect the future compensation.

   Watch at 0:05:04 ↗Transcript ↗Timestamp cross-checked

3. May 20, 2025 · Qatar Economic Forum · asked by Qatar Forum Interviewer

   Q: So pay is a relevant factor then, to your commitment to Tesla?

   Sufficient voting control such that I cannot be ousted by activist investors is what matters to me. And I've said this publicly many times, but let's not have this whole thing be a discussion of mileage pay. It's not a money thing. It's a reasonable control thing over the future of the company. Especially if we're building millions, potentially billions of humanoid robots. I can't be sitting there and wondering, get …

   Watch at 0:06:32 ↗Transcript ↗Timestamp cross-checked

4. Jul 23, 2026 · The Economist: Interview with Elon Musk · asked by Zanny Minton Beddoes

   Q: Do you think you guys should be working more actively to get something in place to control the risks, or do you think that's impossible, too?

   My recommendation to Demis, because I talked to him for a few hours before he published his piece, was that the most immediate thing that we could do is to have the leading AI companies at least just meet. We'll have some sort of call once every few weeks and just discuss any safety and security issues. And that before a breakthrough, sort of a new frontier model is released, something that sort of is far more …

   Watch at 0:12:41 ↗Transcript ↗Timestamp cross-checked

5. Jul 23, 2026 · The Economist: Interview with Elon Musk · asked by Zanny Minton Beddoes

   Q: Is it sensible for one person to have so much control over a company?

   Well, I really just need to make sure that I can focus on long term. By long term I just mean in five to ten years. So one of the challenges with being a public company is that is of the sort of the pressure to have great results every single quarter but and to not really invest in things that may only pay off in five to 10 years. And in a case of SpaceX, I want to extend consciousness beyond Earth and have a …

   Watch at 0:42:33 ↗Transcript ↗Timestamp cross-checked

In his own posts on X

• @elonmusk · Jan 15, 2024

  I should note that the Tesla board is great. The reason for no new “compensation plan” is that we are still waiting for a decision in my Delaware compensation case. The trial for that was held in 2022, but a verdict has yet to be made. I put “compensation plan” in quotes, because, from my standpoint, this is primarily about ensuring the right amount of voting influence at Tesla. If I have 25%, it means I am influential, but can be overridden if twice as many shareholders vote against me vs for me. At 15% or lower, the for/against ratio to override me makes a takeover by dubious interests too easy. I would be fine with a dual class voting structure to achieve this, but am told it is impossible to achieve post-IPO in Delaware.

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• @elonmusk · Jan 15, 2024

  I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand that Tesla is not one startup, but a dozen. Simply look at the delta between what Tesla does and GM. As for stock ownership itself being enough motivation, Fidelity and other own similar stakes to me. Why don’t they show up for work?

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