WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tesla (TSLA) founder Elon Musk announced on X (formerly Twitter) his intention to increase his stake in the company from the current 13 percent to 25 percent. Musk emphasized his desire to play a significant role in Tesla's pursuit of leadership in artificial intelligence and robotics.
Musk further clarified his statement by saying that the increase in his voting control should be 'enough to be influential' so that he can't be 'overturned'. Previously, Musk held approximately 20 percent of Tesla's shares, with a portion sold to fund the acquisition of X for $44 billion.
In a separate post, Musk acknowledged his limited influence compared to major shareholders like Fidelity and BlackRock (BLK). He explained, 'At 15% or lower, the for/against ratio to override me makes a takeover by dubious interests too easy.'
The chief executive earlier failed to get 25 percent voting control through dual-class share structure, as he was told that it was impossible after Tesla's initial public offering.
Dual-class share system comprises of two or more types of shares with different voting rights. It is adopted by many tech companies in order to grant the founder or early leader multiple votes for each share so as to maintain their influence over the company.
Musk argued that, 'It's weird that a crazy multi-class share structure like Meta has, which gives the next 20+ generations of Zuckerbergs control, is fine pre-IPO, but even a reasonable dual-class is not allowed post-IPO.'
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg holds 61 percent voting power at Meta despite holding lesser stake in the company than Vanguard, BlackRock and Fidelity.
Currently, the billionaire is facing a lawsuit filed by Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta, regarding his $56 billion worth compensation package announced in 2018. The plaintiff claimed that Musk exploited his power over the company's board to obtain the biggest pay package for any CEO in the history.
In a response about the lawsuit, Musk posted that he is waiting for the Delaware Chancery Court's ruling about whether the package was excessive. He further confirmed that he has no 'feud or battle at all' with the Tesla board.
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