Additional Coverage:
- Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Will Vote Against Musk’s Proposed $1 Trillion Tesla Pay Plan (forbes.com)
Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Says “No” to Musk’s Multi-Billion Dollar Payday
In a significant move, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, a major shareholder in Tesla, announced its intention to vote against a proposed new compensation package for CEO Elon Musk. The fund’s decision marks the latest investor opposition to the lucrative deal, which could be worth an estimated $1 trillion if Tesla achieves ambitious goals over the next decade.
Norges Bank Investment Management, responsible for Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, confirmed its plans to vote against Musk’s “CEO Performance Award” at Tesla’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting. The fund, also known as the Oil Fund, acknowledged Musk’s “visionary role” and the “significant value created” under his leadership but expressed “concern about the total size of the award.”
The fund stated that its vote aligns with its established views on executive compensation and noted that the proposed package does not address “key person risk”-a scenario where a business is overly reliant on a single individual. The fund added that it would “continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.”
Tesla’s board has described the annual meeting, scheduled for Thursday, as a “critical inflection point” for the company.
Fund’s History of Opposition
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global holds a 1.14% stake in Tesla, valued at approximately $11.7 billion as of June. This is not the first time the fund has opposed a compensation plan for Musk. In 2024, it voted against an earlier pay award worth around $56 billion, citing concerns about the total size, structure, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk, consistent with its opposition to the same award in 2018.
Widespread Investor Pushback
The Norwegian fund’s stance adds to a growing chorus of opposition to Musk’s proposed pay package. Last month, a coalition of Tesla investors, including SOC Investment Group and the American Federation of Teachers, along with state treasurers and comptrollers, sent a letter to shareholders urging them to vote against the proposal.
The letter accused Tesla’s board of “close ties to the CEO” and enabling “a culture where the Board consistently fails to challenge Mr. Musk.”
In October, proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) also recommended that Tesla shareholders vote against the pay package. The ISS highlighted that while the award aims to retain Musk and ensure his focus on Tesla, “there are no explicit requirements to ensure that this will be the case.”
Market Impact and Background
Following the announcement, Tesla’s share price saw a premarket slump of approximately 2.61% to $456.18 on Tuesday.
The proposed pay package, outlined by the Tesla board in an SEC filing in September, would grant Musk an additional 12% stake in the electric carmaker, spread across 12 tranches over the next decade. This is in line with a demand Musk made last year, with the board confirming he threatened to “pursue his other interests and leave Tesla” if he was not assured a 25% voting interest in the company. To fully receive his compensation, Musk must meet the ambitious goal of raising Tesla’s market capitalization from its current $1.47 trillion to $8.5 trillion within a ten-year period.