Tesla CEO Elon Musk has always been outspoken and controversial. However, some people may argue that he's dialed it all up a notch, or perhaps 100 notches, in the more recent past. Regardless of any of the happenings during the last year or so, Tesla shareholder support for the CEO is overwhelmingly positive.
In the recent past, Elon Musk starred on SNL and admitted to the world he's got Asperger's syndrome, he bought Twitter after much chaos, and he's become highly political on social media. The CEO has been accused of being absent from Tesla, destroying Twitter, becoming a far-right supporter, and more.
Despite any of the above, in a recent reelection vote for the Tesla board, Musk was not only the most popular, which may have been expected, but also the person who received the lowest number of votes against. Tesla made the official results of the vote public this week, and they read as follows:
Elon Musk
For: 1,804,966,970
Against: 86,064,052
Robyn Denholm
For: 1,399,563,540
Against: 482,406,961
JB Straubel
For: 1,629,080,812
Against: 261,498,153
As you can see, it's not even close. Approximately 95% of voters were "For" Musk, while less than 5% were against. Robyn Denholm didn't fair nearly as well, though it's obvious she's appealed to a majority of Tesla shareholders who voted. Meanwhile, JB Straubel really impressed with his return to Tesla via the board member position.
Regardless of the votes, if the Tesla board had true concerns over Musk and/or his behavior, other commitments, overall message, etc., it could choose to dismiss him. Even if the board itself isn't initially concerned, there are often shareholders looking out and alerting the board if they feel something has gone astray. The board must take that information and analyze it to decide if an action should be taken.
Shareholders vote for who gets a seat on the board, but they can't fire a CEO. If the votes were stacked overwhelmingly against Musk, it would then be the board's job to figure out how to move forward.
What do you think? Did you have the impression more Tesla shareholders would vote against Musk after all the controversies have been mounting? Let us know your take on all of this by starting a conversation in the comment section below.
