Elon Musk, the chief govt of Tesla, demanded that the corporate’s board give him shares price greater than $80 billion if it needs him to proceed growing merchandise based mostly on synthetic intelligence.
Mr. Musk mentioned Monday on X, the social media website he owns, that he wanted to personal 25 p.c of Tesla to keep away from takeovers and have sufficient management of the corporate because it develops robots and different synthetic intelligence expertise.
The chief govt owns 13 p.c of Tesla after promoting a considerable portion of his stake to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he renamed X. The social media website has struggled underneath his management and plunged in worth. A further 12 p.c of Tesla can be price $82 billion on the present share worth, successfully recouping Mr. Musk’s funding in Twitter — which he has mentioned he regrets — after which some.
“I’m uncomfortable rising Tesla to be a pacesetter in A.I. & robotics with out having ~25% voting management,” Mr. Musk wrote on X. “Sufficient to be influential, however not a lot that I can’t be overturned.”
He went on: “Except that’s the case, I would favor to construct merchandise exterior of Tesla.” However he additionally mentioned the board would take no motion till a Delaware choose guidelines in a lawsuit introduced by a Tesla shareholder difficult an earlier compensation plan that was instrumental in making Mr. Musk the richest individual on the planet.
Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The demand by Mr. Musk underlined the extent to which Tesla, which offered 1.8 million autos final yr and is the world’s most precious carmaker, is topic to his impulses.
Tesla’s success pressured conventional carmakers to start providing electrical autos, that are important in lowering greenhouse gasoline emissions from transportation. However Mr. Musk’s habits and statements have weighed on the share worth and gotten him into hassle with regulators.
Tesla shares fell when Mr. Musk offered a few of his stake to purchase Twitter. The shares additionally suffered after Mr. Musk mentioned in 2018 that he had the cash to take Tesla non-public and delist it from the inventory change. Mr. Musk was unable to execute the plan.
The corporate’s inventory has fallen about 14 p.c thus far this yr however is up about 60 p.c over the past 12 months.
Mr. Musk didn’t specify which merchandise he may develop exterior the corporate. He has already began a separate synthetic intelligence enterprise known as X.AI, which final yr launched the Grok chatbot to chose customers. Tesla is growing a robotic known as Optimus which, in response to a video posted on X by Tesla on Monday, can fold a shirt. Tesla additionally makes use of synthetic intelligence in its driver-assistance and self-driving techniques.
On X, a few of Mr. Musk’s followers applauded his assertion, saying he earned the cash. However others mentioned it was his personal fault his stake within the firm has fallen. “They didn’t make you promote your shares,” one person wrote, including, “why ought to the board do something to rectify this for you?”
A stake of lower than 15 p.c of the corporate, Mr. Musk mentioned, “makes a takeover by doubtful pursuits too simple.”
