Tesla shareholders are voting on four proposals on Tuesday, and CEO Elon Musk is expected to deliver a presentation.
Shareholders are widely expected to strike down a proposal that would have forced Tesla to appoint an independent chairman, which would have removed Elon Musk from the role. Shareholder Jiang Zhao of Concord, California, who owns 12 shares of Tesla stock, brought the proposal forward because he said an independent chairman was necessary to prevent conflicts of interest.
A second proposal expected to fail would remove three Tesla board members up for reelection this year. The proposal was brought by the CtW Investment Group, which works with pension funds for unions. The group said board members Antonio Gracias and Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother, were too close to the CEO to ensure needed independence. The third, 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, lacks relevant experience and has been implicated in scandals at Fox and News Corp., CtW had said in a letter to Tesla shareholders.
Corporate governance experts had not expected the proposals to pass, but they had gained the support of proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass-Lewis.
Source: Tech CNBCWatch Tesla shareholders vote on whether to remove Elon Musk a chairman