Norway Sovereign Fund to Oppose Elon Musk’s Near-$1 Trillion Tesla Pay Plan

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which oversees Norway’s roughly $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, said it will vote against Elon Musk’s proposed near-$1 trillion compensation package at Tesla’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting. The stance puts NBIM at odds with company management as Musk has warned he might step down if the plan fails to win approval.

NBIM, that holds about 1.14% of Tesla’s shares — valued at roughly $11.6 billion in June — said the size of the award, the potential dilution to existing shareholders and the concentration of corporate risk around a single executive motivated its decision to vote no.

Tesla’s board is asking investors to approve a long-term equity grant that could deliver nearly $1 trillion to Musk over the next decade if a set of performance milestones are met. The proposal also includes measures that would broaden Musk’s voting influence at the company, a point that has intensified investor scrutiny.

The remuneration plan has drawn opposition from major proxy advisers; Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis have both recommended voting against it. The Take Back Tesla coalition, representing unions and accountability groups, has also urged shareholders to reject the package as excessive.

Musk, who is estimated to be the world’s richest individual with about $504 billion in net worth, has dismissed critics, calling ISS and Glass Lewis “corporate terrorists” and defending his pay proposal by pointing to Tesla’s leading market position in the auto sector.

NBIM has previously opposed Musk’s compensation arrangements: last year it voted against reviving a $56 billion package that a U.S. judge had voided, even though shareholders later approved that plan. The dispute has periodically become public, including reports of Musk personally contacting NBIM executives over pay disagreements.

News of NBIM’s opposition weighed on Tesla shares, which slipped about 2.5% in premarket trading as investors digested the renewed controversy around the CEO’s remuneration request.