WionDrive News Desk 
Tesla investor Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust announced on Thursday its intention to continue supporting CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package at the company’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting next month.
Last month, the electric vehicle maker requested shareholders to reaffirm their approval for Musk’s record-breaking compensation after a Delaware judge rejected the package in January.
Scottish Mortgage, which had initially agreed to the pay package Tesla set in 2018, believes the agreed amount should be paid out, according to Tom Slater, the manager at the investment trust.
Musk’s pay package, the largest in corporate America, does not include a salary or cash bonus. Instead, it ties rewards to Tesla’s market value increasing to as much as $650 billion over the next decade from 2018. The automotive giant’s market value stood at $574 billion as of Wednesday’s closing price, having already touched the $1 trillion market cap figure in 2021.
Tesla’s chair, Robyn Denholm, has reportedly been campaigning and meeting with shareholders to secure their vote for the approval of Musk’s pay deal.
Scottish Mortgage, managed by Baillie Gifford, has yet to decide on Musk’s move to incorporate Tesla in Texas, the investment trust informed the Financial Times, which first reported the news.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares were down 3.5 per cent on Thursday, falling about 30 per cent this year, as slowing growth in EV demand and tough competition have hit demand for Tesla’s vehicles.
During the first quarter of this year, from January to March, Tesla experienced its first year-over-year decline in sales in nearly four years.
As part of a restructuring effort, the company laid off more than 10% of its workforce this year, including disbanding the team responsible for its Supercharger network.
Tesla’s 2023 impact report revealed that its fast-charging network achieved an uptime of 99.97 per cent, the highest in at least five years. However, some analysts and former employees have raised concerns that the layoffs could adversely impact the division’s performance.
The report did not compare the diversity of Tesla’s workforce with other companies. Apart from that, the company no longer states that a majority of its employees come from underrepresented groups, a departure from its previous stance.
