In a video posted on Friday, Robyn Denholm, the chair of Tesla's board of directors, urged the carmaker's shareholders to reapprove Musk's 2018 CEO performance award after a Delaware judge overturned it in court.
Musk's compensation was worth roughly $56 billion, though it's now worth about $47 billion due to Tesla's falling share price. But Musk's billions in extra pay were thrown out after a Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit arguing the payout was excessive.
The shareholder vote to bring back the pay for Musk, Denholm said, will be "incredibly important for the future of the company."
"We don't believe one judge's opinion should void the will of millions of votes cast by all of the owners of the company," the chairman told investors in the video. "So once again, we're asking you to make your voices heard by voting for the ratification of the 2018 performance award."
The chairman argued in the video that Musk fairly received the award, which shareholders set to incentivize the tech billionaire to hit "ambitious financial and operational targets" since Tesla reached its goals as of 2023.
She noted that the carmaker grew revenues from $11.8 billion to $96.8 billion and turned a $2.2 billion loss into a $15 billion profit under Musk's leadership.
These milestones, she said, increased the value of Tesla from $53.7 billion to more than $790 billion.
"His success is shared by all stockholders," Denholm said regarding Musk, adding that investors saw the value of their shares increase by 1,100%.
Tesla Board Of Directors Chair Robyn Denholm has released a new video talking about the upcoming 2024 shareholder vote in June. We are asking your voices to be heard and to vote for these proposals. pic.twitter.com/AmfRYo28ah
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 3, 2024
Last month, Tesla filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its plans to hold another shareholder vote on Musk's enormous compensation package, which includes stock options.
Tesla's leadership argued that Musk hasn't been properly paid for the work he did for Tesla over the past six years.
As of May 3rd, Musk is ranked the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $195 billion, according to Forbes' billionaire index.
Tesla's annual 2024 shareholder meeting is set to take place on June 13, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. central time.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication.
