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Over the past couple of months, my X feed and television have been bombarded with Tesla advertisements. For the most part, these ads don’t feature products anyone can actually buy—instead, they include futuristic Tesla projects like the Optimus humanoid robot and are aimed at convincing Tesla shareholders to approve a proposed compensation package for CEO Elon Musk. The result of that vote is likely to be among the biggest tech and finance stories of the coming week.
Tesla shareholders have until Wednesday night to vote on the package unless they’re going to Texas to attend the company’s annual meeting in person on Thursday. The package would award Musk up to $1 trillion in Tesla shares over the next decade if he meets several ambitious targets, including sextupling Tesla’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion, selling 20 million cars and rolling out a million Optimus robots and a million Robotaxis. The Tesla board, led by chair Robyn Denholm, has been on a media blitz in recent weeks trying to drum up support for the pay package. Dangling a bigger Tesla stake in front of Musk is the only way to keep him focused on the automaker over his other ventures, Denholm argues. This past week, she warned Musk could quit if shareholders reject the deal.
Some big shareholders are unconvinced. The largest public pension fund in the U.S., CalPERS, said in a statement that it’s voting against the package because it’s “larger than pay packages for CEOs in comparable companies by many orders of magnitude” and “would further concentrate power in a single shareholder.” Proxy advisers International Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis also came out against the package, prompting Musk to label them “corporate terrorists.” Proxy advisers may have some sway with the biggest outside Tesla investors like BlackRock and State Street, who have not yet signaled how they’ll vote.
While the vote might wind up too close for Musk’s comfort, it’s hard to believe that a majority of Tesla shareholders will reject the proposal, given the company’s army of individual shareholders who would follow Musk to the ends of the earth. Plus, many shareholders will like the fact that Musk stands to gain nothing from the proposed package unless Tesla’s share price significantly rises. That’s far from a sure bet, given the internal issues and regulatory hurdles facing the company’s autonomous driving and robotics bets that we’ve detailed in our reporting over the past few weeks. (That’s not to mention another possible farfetched Tesla bet that Musk teased on Joe Rogan’s show Friday: flying cars!)
We’ll find out the result of Musk’s compensation vote when Tesla holds its annual meeting on Thursday. We’ll also learn the result of several other resolutions, including a nonbinding proposal that Tesla invest in Musk’s AI company, xAI. Whatever happens, it’s almost certain to be less dry and boring than the annual meetings we’re used to from other companies.
On the Earnings Front
This is the week for smaller digital ad companies reporting earnings—including Snap and Pinterest—as well as the gig economy companies. That means Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Airbnb will be delivering their September-quarter updates.
Here’s what analysts are expecting for each of the companies, courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence:
Uber (Tuesday)
Revenue: $13.262 billion +18.5%
EPS: 0.69 -42.5%
Pinterest (Tuesday)
Revenue: $1.048 billion +16.7%
EPS: 0.11 +175%
Lyft (Wednesday)
Revenue: $1.698 billion +11.5%
EPS: 0.07 compared with (0.03) a year earlier
Snap (Wednesday)
Revenue: $1.49 billion +8.5%
EPS: (0.12) compared with (0.09 cents) a share a year earlier
DoorDash (Wednesday)
Revenue: $3.355 billion +24%
EPS: 0.68 +79%
Airbnb (Thursday)
Revenue: $4.079 billion +9.3%
EPS: 2.32 +9%
In Other News
Elon Musk’s SpaceX will receive $2 billion to build satellites for the U.S. government as part of President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” defense project, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Netflix is exploring a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business, Reuters reported on Thursday, and has hired Moelis & Co. as an advisor. Netflix also announced a 10-for-1 stock split.
Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, said its profit has surpassed $10 billion in the first nine months of this year, making it one of the most profitable crypto companies in the world. It has also launched a share buyback.
China has agreed to drop antitrust and other investigations into U.S. chip companies, the White House said on Saturday, as part of a broader trade agreement the two countries reached last week.
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