Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday disclosed the purchase of about $1 billion in shares of the electric-vehicle maker in a show of confidence about the company’s future.
A regulatory filing disclosed that Musk bought 2.57 million shares of Tesla stock on Friday at a price between $372.37 and $396.54 per share.
Musk’s purchase marks the first time since early 2020 that he bought Tesla stock on the open market and comes as the company is transitioning to emphasize artificial intelligence (AI), robotaxis and robotics amid a sluggish EV market.
It also comes as the billionaire is seeking greater control over Tesla and the company’s board put forward a $1 trillion compensation package that aims to address his goals while setting ambitious financial and operational goals for Musk’s payouts.
TESLA OFFERS MASSIVE $1 TRILLION PAY PACKAGE TO ELON MUSK
Musk has sought greater voting power and a larger stake in Tesla and previously said that if he doesn’t receive 25% voting power, he would rather do his work on AI and robotics outside the company. As of December, Musk had a roughly 13% stake in the company, according to LSEG data.
Jed Dorsheimer, group head of energy and power technologies at William Blair, said in a note that the firm sees Musk’s stock purchase “as a clear signal of confidence from Musk,” noting that the stock surged on the news.
“With Musk’s purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish but retaining our Market Perform rating,” Dorsheimer said.
TESLA GRANTS MUSK MASSIVE PAY DEAL TO KEEP CEO ON BOARD AMID LEGAL BATTLE
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 406.60 | +10.65 | +2.69% |
Tesla shares were up more than 5.3% as of early afternoon following Musk’s purchase.
Musk’s previous compensation package, which was struck down by a Delaware judge over concerns about the billionaire’s ties to the board members who approved the deal in 2018 as well as the unprecedented size of the $56 billion compensation plan, is currently under appeal.
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Tesla has argued Musk’s importance to Tesla and the performance-based incentives in the compensation plan justified the large rewards if benchmarks were reached under the 2018 package. The company also issued a smaller $29 billion award to Musk as a “good faith” payment on the plan that’s being held up in the courts.
The new package of up to $1 trillion will require approval by shareholders before the largest compensation plan – which would be the largest pay package in history – kicks in.
“Similar to the 2018 package, this is purely based on Tesla performance and aligns Musk with shareholders 100%,” Dorsheimer said. “Musk has the board’s full support, and we expect he’ll get more than enough shareholder support for this to pass with flying colors.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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