Fast Facts
- A Deleware court struck down Elon Musk's $56 billion Tesla compensation package in January.
- The move came after Musk said that he wanted a larger share of ownership in Tesla.
- Musk said Wednesday night that he's not after more money; he's after more influence.
In January Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk — who currently holds a roughly 13% ownership stake in Tesla — called for him to take 25% voting control before the rubber really starts to hit the road on the artificial intelligence side of things.
"I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control," Musk wrote in a post on X. "Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla."
Musk sold billions of dollars of Tesla stock to acquire X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.
Related: No, Elon Musk, AI self-awareness is not 'inevitable'
Last year, Musk launched xAI, an AI firm separate from Tesla that has since launched Grok, a chatbot designed to compete with ChatGPT.
His statement added another layer of pressure to a stock that has been under pressure from a variety of sources for months. Many investors believe that Tesla's AI story is where the real future value of the company will come from.
As Wedbush's Dan Ives put it in a recent client note: "Patience is starting to wear very thin among investors. This is being exacerbated by the Musk AI outside of Tesla chatter."
A few short weeks after Musk called for more control, a Delaware judge struck down his $56 billion compensation package.
Ives has said that Tesla should create a new compensation package that grants Musk his 25% voting control.
Musk wrote in a post Wednesday that he's not after the larger package for more money. He's after more influence.
"I (obviously) don’t need ... money personally, but am concerned about not having voting power to influence Tesla to do the right thing," he said.
Musk has expressed concern about AI on numerous occasions, going on to sign a letter last year that called for a six-month pause on the development of advanced AI systems. A few months later, he launched xAI.
Musk, who is neither a computer nor a cognitive scientist, has warned of the existential risks of a sentient AI, a sci-fi hypothetical that AI researchers have dismissed as lacking in scientific evidence.
Shares of Tesla have fallen more than 32% for the year.
Contact Ian with tips and AI stories via email, ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net, or Signal 732-804-1223.
