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纽约市主计长反对马斯克460亿美元薪酬方案

AMANDA GERUT
2024-06-06

一些股东明确表示,特斯拉董事会制定的薪酬方案过高,是公司治理失效的强烈信号。

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图片来源:CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

特斯拉正在加紧努力,争取在几天后的股东大会上批准首席执行官埃隆·马斯克价值460亿美元的股票期权方案,投资者正在权衡他们对这一关键投票的决定。

一些股东明确表示,特斯拉董事会制定的薪酬方案过高,是公司治理失效的强烈信号。包括小散户在内的其他投资者已经投票支持马斯克。

在周二举行的特斯拉投资者会议上,包括纽约市主计长布拉德·兰德在内的代表们在本月举行的特斯拉年度股东大会上第二次提出了拒绝投票支持马斯克2018年薪酬方案的理由。兰德所在的办公室管理着纽约市五家退休基金的2710亿美元资产,他表示,特斯拉董事会多次未能代表股东提供独立治理,这是他们在法律上的义务。兰德指出,这五家纽约市基金持有特斯拉340万股股票,价值约6.27亿美元。兰德表示,这些基金将拒绝投票支持特斯拉首席执行官的薪酬方案,并反对埃隆·马斯克的弟弟金巴尔·马斯克和詹姆斯·默多克连任董事会成员。兰德说,这两人担任董事会成员都与独立治理的规则相冲突,已经达到了无可救药的地步。

兰德说:“这次投票并不是对埃隆·马斯克担任首席执行官的公投。他是一位有远见的领导者,过去在特斯拉的角色至关重要,但必须有独立的股东治理,以确保薪酬方案合理。这一薪酬方案并不合理。”

特斯拉没有立即回应置评请求。

今年1月,特拉华州衡平法院的一名法官取消了马斯克的薪酬方案,该法官认定,特斯拉董事会授予马斯克股票期权(当时价值560亿美元)的过程缺乏独立性,而且这笔交易没有经过适当的谈判。在裁决之后,马斯克宣布将寻求将特斯拉总部从特拉华州迁往德克萨斯州,因为那里的法院可能比特拉华州的法院更尊重马斯克。特斯拉董事会已要求投资者重新批准马斯克的薪酬方案和南迁事宜。股东咨询公司Glass Lewis和Institutional Shareholder Services建议投资者拒绝投票支持这一薪酬方案,而特斯拉董事会及其独立主席罗宾·德霍姆则敦促投资者投票支持公司及其首席执行官。

然而,兰德认为,特斯拉没有一位全职首席执行官专注于这家电动汽车制造商的发展,马斯克目前正在“追逐闪亮的新目标”。他和其他投资者过去曾抱怨马斯克对特斯拉的关注度不够,被社交媒体和他担任领导职务的其他六家公司(包括X、xAI、Neuralink 和The Boring Company)分散了精力。

负责股东参与的联合银行(Amalgamated Bank)首席可持续发展官伊万·弗里什伯格说,马斯克越来越分心,这是一个越来越令人担忧的问题,原因是特斯拉正面临着巨大的阻力。这些不利因素包括特斯拉核心产品面临全球竞争加剧、开发延迟和劳资纠纷。弗里什伯格表示,两名公司董事的离职尤其令人担忧,有报道指责董事会对马斯克言听计从是根本原因。他说,董事会成员之间的密切关系,包括长期友谊、家族关系和相互交织的商业往来,是投资者日益担忧的问题之一。弗里什伯格表示,由于董事会缺乏独立性,他们将在选举投票中拒绝支持金巴尔·马斯克和默多克连任。

兰德警告说,特斯拉有关马斯克的薪酬方案发生的一系列事情可能会在整个资本市场引起反响。兰德认为,特斯拉的投资者和纽约市的退休人员值得拥有一个足够独立的董事会来监督马斯克,保护他们的投资。

他说:“当亿万富翁被允许藐视规则时,普通人就会蒙受损失。亿万富翁不能只让兄弟和死党来决定他们要遵守什么规则,听从什么法庭的意见,以及遵守什么规则。”

兰德此前曾告诉《财富》杂志,他所在的办公室甚至都没能从特斯拉董事会那里得到关于其担忧的回电,他在周二的会议上称马斯克的薪酬方案“高得离谱,而且管理不善”。

马里兰州当选官员、主计长布鲁克·利尔曼在本周的会议上表示,在决定如何投票时,特斯拉在员工管理方面的糟糕记录以及董事会对人力资本问题缺乏关注的事宜,都是需要权衡的重大风险。

利尔曼说:“简言之,特斯拉要想取得成功,我们需要一个精明干练的管理团队。”一个管理有效的特斯拉董事会应该“确保有人在必要时站出来反对首席执行官”。(财富中文网)

译者:中慧言-王芳

特斯拉正在加紧努力,争取在几天后的股东大会上批准首席执行官埃隆·马斯克价值460亿美元的股票期权方案,投资者正在权衡他们对这一关键投票的决定。

一些股东明确表示,特斯拉董事会制定的薪酬方案过高,是公司治理失效的强烈信号。包括小散户在内的其他投资者已经投票支持马斯克。

在周二举行的特斯拉投资者会议上,包括纽约市主计长布拉德·兰德在内的代表们在本月举行的特斯拉年度股东大会上第二次提出了拒绝投票支持马斯克2018年薪酬方案的理由。兰德所在的办公室管理着纽约市五家退休基金的2710亿美元资产,他表示,特斯拉董事会多次未能代表股东提供独立治理,这是他们在法律上的义务。兰德指出,这五家纽约市基金持有特斯拉340万股股票,价值约6.27亿美元。兰德表示,这些基金将拒绝投票支持特斯拉首席执行官的薪酬方案,并反对埃隆·马斯克的弟弟金巴尔·马斯克和詹姆斯·默多克连任董事会成员。兰德说,这两人担任董事会成员都与独立治理的规则相冲突,已经达到了无可救药的地步。

兰德说:“这次投票并不是对埃隆·马斯克担任首席执行官的公投。他是一位有远见的领导者,过去在特斯拉的角色至关重要,但必须有独立的股东治理,以确保薪酬方案合理。这一薪酬方案并不合理。”

特斯拉没有立即回应置评请求。

今年1月,特拉华州衡平法院的一名法官取消了马斯克的薪酬方案,该法官认定,特斯拉董事会授予马斯克股票期权(当时价值560亿美元)的过程缺乏独立性,而且这笔交易没有经过适当的谈判。在裁决之后,马斯克宣布将寻求将特斯拉总部从特拉华州迁往德克萨斯州,因为那里的法院可能比特拉华州的法院更尊重马斯克。特斯拉董事会已要求投资者重新批准马斯克的薪酬方案和南迁事宜。股东咨询公司Glass Lewis和Institutional Shareholder Services建议投资者拒绝投票支持这一薪酬方案,而特斯拉董事会及其独立主席罗宾·德霍姆则敦促投资者投票支持公司及其首席执行官。

然而,兰德认为,特斯拉没有一位全职首席执行官专注于这家电动汽车制造商的发展,马斯克目前正在“追逐闪亮的新目标”。他和其他投资者过去曾抱怨马斯克对特斯拉的关注度不够,被社交媒体和他担任领导职务的其他六家公司(包括X、xAI、Neuralink 和The Boring Company)分散了精力。

负责股东参与的联合银行(Amalgamated Bank)首席可持续发展官伊万·弗里什伯格说,马斯克越来越分心,这是一个越来越令人担忧的问题,原因是特斯拉正面临着巨大的阻力。这些不利因素包括特斯拉核心产品面临全球竞争加剧、开发延迟和劳资纠纷。弗里什伯格表示,两名公司董事的离职尤其令人担忧,有报道指责董事会对马斯克言听计从是根本原因。他说,董事会成员之间的密切关系,包括长期友谊、家族关系和相互交织的商业往来,是投资者日益担忧的问题之一。弗里什伯格表示,由于董事会缺乏独立性,他们将在选举投票中拒绝支持金巴尔·马斯克和默多克连任。

兰德警告说,特斯拉有关马斯克的薪酬方案发生的一系列事情可能会在整个资本市场引起反响。兰德认为,特斯拉的投资者和纽约市的退休人员值得拥有一个足够独立的董事会来监督马斯克,保护他们的投资。

他说:“当亿万富翁被允许藐视规则时,普通人就会蒙受损失。亿万富翁不能只让兄弟和死党来决定他们要遵守什么规则,听从什么法庭的意见,以及遵守什么规则。”

兰德此前曾告诉《财富》杂志,他所在的办公室甚至都没能从特斯拉董事会那里得到关于其担忧的回电,他在周二的会议上称马斯克的薪酬方案“高得离谱,而且管理不善”。

马里兰州当选官员、主计长布鲁克·利尔曼在本周的会议上表示,在决定如何投票时,特斯拉在员工管理方面的糟糕记录以及董事会对人力资本问题缺乏关注的事宜,都是需要权衡的重大风险。

利尔曼说:“简言之,特斯拉要想取得成功,我们需要一个精明干练的管理团队。”一个管理有效的特斯拉董事会应该“确保有人在必要时站出来反对首席执行官”。(财富中文网)

译者:中慧言-王芳

As Tesla ramps up its campaign to ratify CEO Elon Musk’s $46 billion stock options package at a shareholder meeting days away, investors are weighing their decision on the critical vote.

Some shareholders are clearly in the camp that the pay package is too high and a strong indicator of failed corporate governance on the Tesla board. Other investors, including an army of small retail holders, have already voted in support of Musk.

At a meeting of Tesla investors on Tuesday, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, representatives made their case for voting against supporting Musk’s 2018 pay package a second time at the company’s annual shareholder meeting this month. Lander, whose office manages $271 billion in assets across five NYC retirement funds, said the Tesla board has repeatedly failed to provide the independent governance on behalf of shareholders that they are legally obligated to provide. Lander noted that the five NYC funds hold 3.4 million shares of the electric vehicle maker, worth about $627 million. Lander has said the funds will vote against the the Tesla CEO’s pay and against the reelection bids of board members Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother, and James Murdoch. Both are hopelessly conflicted, Lander said.

“This vote is not a referendum on Elon Musk as CEO,” said Lander. “He is a visionary whose role in Tesla in the past has been critical but there must be independent shareholder governance that makes sure pay packages are reasonable. This pay package is not reasonable.”

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk’s pay was rescinded in January by a Delaware Chancery Court judge who determined the board’s process for awarding stock options then valued at $56 billion to Musk lacked independence and that the deal wasn’t properly negotiated. After the ruling, Musk announced that he would seek to move Tesla’s headquarters from Delaware to Texas, where courts might be more deferential than in Delaware. The Tesla board has asked investors to reapprove Musk’s pay and the move south. Shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have recommended that investors vote against the pay package, while the Tesla board and its independent chair Robyn Denholm are urging investors to back the company and its CEO.

According to Lander, however, Tesla doesn’t have a full-time CEO who is focused on growing the EV maker and that Musk is “chasing shiny new objects” at the moment. He and other investors in the past have complained that Musk isn’t focused enough on Tesla and is distracted by social media and half a dozen other companies where he holds leadership roles including X, xAI, Neuralink and The Boring Company.

Ivan Frishberg chief sustainability officer of Amalgamated Bank who leads shareholder engagement, said Musk is increasingly distracted and that it’s a growing concern because Tesla is facing significant headwinds. Those come in the form of greater global competition for Tesla’s core product, development delays, and labor disputes. Frishberg said it was particularly concerning that two corporate directors departed and reports blamed the board’s level of deference to Musk as an underlying reason. Close relationships between the board members including longstanding friendships, familial relations, and interwoven business dealings are part of investors’ mounting concerns, he said. The bank’s clients hold 600,000 shares of Tesla on behalf of its funds, and Frishberg said they would vote against Kimbal Musk and Murdoch in the election vote due to the lack of independence on the board.

In the area of Musk’s pay, what’s happening at Tesla could lead to reverberations across the capital markets, warned Lander. Tesla investors and NYC retirees deserve to have a sufficiently independent board overseeing Musk and safeguarding their investments, argued Lander.

“When billionaires are allowed to flout the rules, normal people suffer,” he said. “A billionaire can’t just have his brother and his besties be the ones to decide what rules they’ll follow, what courts they’ll listen to, and what rules they’ll abide by.”

Lander, who previously told Fortune that his office hasn’t been able to even get a call back from the Tesla board about its concerns, described Musk’s pay package as “outrageously large and insufficiently governed” at Tuesday’s meeting.

Comptroller Brooke Lierman, an elected official in Maryland, said at the meeting this week that Tesla’s poor track record of managing its workforce and the board’s lack of attention to human capital concerns presented a significant risk to weigh in determining how to vote.

“Suffice it to say that for Tesla to succeed, we need a management team that is on the ball,” said Lierman. And an effective board at Tesla should “make sure somebody is standing up to the CEO when necessary.”

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