Elon Musk hijacks Tesla earnings call to pitch $1 trillion pay plan

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, spent the end of Tesla Inc.’s earnings call pleading with investors to ratify his upcoming $1 trillion pay package and blasting the shareholder advisory firms that have come out against the plan.

“I just think that there needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence,” Musk said, interrupting his CFO at the tail end of a 75-minute call. “But not not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane.”

It was classic Musk: a fiery ending to what had otherwise been a ho-hum earnings call talking about Tesla’s AI initiatives, Optimus robots and robotaxi service. Shareholders will vote on the pay package at Tesla’s annual meeting on November 6 in Austin.

“I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis who have no freaking clue,” Musk said, referring to the proxy advisory services who he said aren’t voting in shareholders’ interests.

Tesla’s CFO Vaibhav Taneja, with the final words before the call ended, argued that the board committee that assembled the proposed compensation package did so by ensuring Musk doesn’t get any benefit unless shareholders make substantial returns. He urged shareholders, more than once, to vote in favor of the plan.