by James Warrington at The Telegraph via Microsoft Start
Tesla boss Elon Musk won a major victory on Thursday night in his long-running battle to secure a historic $56bn (£44bn) pay deal.
In results announced at Tesla’s annual general meeting, shareholders voted in favour of the pay package, although Mr Musk could still face legal battles over it.
Earlier in the day, the billionaire had tweeted that shareholders were set to approve his huge pay packet by “wide margins”.
This pushed the shares in Tesla up by as much as 7pc to hit a two-month high.
Approval for the huge pay deal – the largest in history for a US chief executive – is a significant win for both the billionaire and the company, which has seen its share price fall 60pc from its 2021 peak amid slowing EV sales.
Dan Ives, analyst at investment firm Wedbush, described the outcome as a “pop the champagne moment for Musk and Tesla shareholders”.
He added: “In a nutshell, if this proposal went south, a lot of bad things and scenarios could have happened – including Mr Musk beginning a path to not being chief executive of Tesla.”
The incentive package was originally approved by shareholders in 2018 but was struck down in January by a judge in Delaware, who said investors were not fully informed of key details.
Court judge Kathaleen McCormick said the package did not meet the standard of a “fair price”, branding its size “unfathomable”.
Influential advisory firms Investor Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis both came out against the windfall, with the former dismissing the proposal as “excessive”.
Major investors,…
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