The $1 trillion fund supported the idea to fire Musk from his post as head of the board of directors of Tesla.

Tesla shareholders on Tuesday voted to keep Elon Musk as Chairman of the Board of Directors and thus allow him to continue to combine this position with the position of CEO. However, during the voting, it turned out that the idea to dismiss Musk from one of his two posts has an influential supporter - Norway's $ 1 trillion sovereign wealth fund.

Details

• The proposal to remove Musk from the post of chairman of the board of directors was made by the company's shareholder Jing Zhao. In his opinion, Musk's combination of the positions of chairman of the board of directors and CEO was effective in the early stages of the company's development, but now it hinders effective business management.
• Shareholders voted against this proposal. Musk reacted emotionally to the voting results. According to The Washington Post, his voice trembled. He said the company had experienced "the most agonizing and hellish few months ever."
• However, not all investors voted against Zhao's proposal. The Norwegian Wealth Fund (the world's largest $1 trillion state reserve fund) supported the idea to remove Musk from the post of chairman of the board of directors of the company. The Norwegian fund at the end of 2017 owned 0.48% of Tesla.

Context

• The vote comes amid ongoing problems within the company, the biggest ones being Tesla's ongoing crashes and low Model 3 production . In April, Tesla was more than double its summer target of 5,000 vehicles per week. However, during Tuesday's shareholder meeting, Musk assured that the target could still be reached, as the company is now capable of producing 3,500 Model 3s a week.
• In May, Tesla left Matthew Schwall, who was responsible for liaising with officials in the field of road safety. Tesla's senior vice president of engineering, Doug Field, also went on "indefinite leave."
• According to the results of the first quarter of 2018, the company reported a record loss for the entire existence of Tesla - $ 709.6 million (last year - $ 330.3 million). At a conference call after the earnings release, Musk decided not to answer some investors, calling questions about the company's capitalization and Model 3 delivery plans "stupid" and "boring." After Musk's comments, shares fell 7%, depreciating the company's value by $2 billion.

Liana Faizova