The head of a major pension fund said on Monday that he will vote against Elon Musk’s compensation proposal later this week.
Christopher Eilman, chief investment officer at the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), said in an interview with CNBC that the system opposes Musk’s compensation package, calling it “absurd.”
As of June 2023, CalSTRS holds approximately 4.7 million Tesla shares. To that website.
“We’re paying him 140 times the average wage. What do you think of that deal? I think that’s more than fair,” Ailman said on CNBC’s “The NBA.” “Voices on the Streets”
He also noted that CalSTRS voted against a judge’s ruling earlier this year that Musk’s previous compensation package was unacceptable. The vote, expected this week, would reinstate the 2018 compensation package that the judge rejected.
At least two shareholder advisory firms have recommended voting against the deal, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press reported that the company recently valued the proposed deal at about $44.9 billion.
In an interview on Monday, Eilman urged Musk to focus on one of his many businesses: In addition to Tesla, Musk also owns social platform X and aerospace company SpaceX.
“The company hasn’t grown in the last two years and is barely making a profit per car,” Eilman said. “He needs to focus on either X car or getting to Mars. And I think his heart is really set on getting to Mars and getting off Earth.”
He added that he “would hate to see” Musk walk away from Tesla.
“He’s great. I respect him. I heard him speak at the Milken Conference recently. He’s a great speaker,” he said. “But let’s run this company. It’s a car manufacturer, so let’s go back to making cars and do it well. He can run SpaceX and run other businesses and see how that works out. He’s focused on Starlink.”
“He’s got a million balls in the air. Focus on a few of them,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to Tesla for comment.
The Associated Press contributed.
