Top line
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday reiterated his demand for greater control over the company’s voting rights, to allow the company to develop advanced AI and robotics technologies, in a message posted on its social media platform X, hours after the company’s fourth quarter. earnings The 2023 report missed analyst estimates and sent shares down nearly 6% in after-hours trading.
RPA’s Elon Musk attends the European Jewish Association conference at DoubleTree by Hilton in … (+)
Highlights
Musk shared a clip of Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call earlier Wednesday, highlighting his concerns about creating advanced AI technology within Tesla without more oversight, saying: “The money doesn’t matter if powerful technology goes wrong.”
In the call for resultsThe Tesla CEO said he saw the company as a “path to creating an artificial intelligence and robotics juggernaut with truly immense capabilities and power.”
But Musk said such a move would concern him if he had “so little influence” over Tesla that he could “be excluded by some sort of shareholder advisory firm”, insisting he would not was not about controlling this so-called heavyweight.
Musk said the company faces many problems with “institutional shareholder services…I call them ISIS and Glass Lewis” and activist investors who are “infiltrating these organizations” and having “strange ideas.”
Tesla’s CEO said he is open to a dual-class share structure to enable his request for control of 25% of Tesla’s voting rights, adding that it’s not that important “if I go crazy… They can’t deport me.”
Crucial quote
“I am not looking for additional economic considerations. I just want to be an effective manager of a very powerful technology,” Musk said on the call.
Large number
13%. This is the amount of Tesla shares currently owned by Elon Musk, excluding options. This figure rises to 22% when options are added.
Key context
Last week, Musk published a series of messages on saying he was “uncomfortable with making Tesla a leader in AI and robotics” without holding about 25% of the voting rights in the company. The billionaire said he would “prefer to make products” outside of Tesla if his demand was not met. Musk argued that voting power of 15% or less means “a takeover by dubious interests (is) too easy.”
Further reading
Tesla profits down 23% in 2023 (Forbes)
Tesla falls in premarket after Musk seeks control of 25% of company (Forbes)
