Tesla board blocks shareholder vote that could have banned political speech by CEO Elon Musk
Tesla Council managed to avoid what could have been a difficult vote for the investor on the request for political neutrality between executives, after the Securities and Stock Exchange Committee ruled that the manufacturer of electric cars can exclude the shareholders’ proposal in this regard from its annual materials for 2025, according to a copy of the SEC letter obtained by luck.
The proposal was presented by Jay Bottira, 67, a lawyer and a strong climate investor who has a contract in Tesla since the company’s public subscription 2010. It is made by political data, approvals, contributions to support, opposition to political parties or candidates. Bottira, a retired businessman who still holds the shares of Tesla with millions of dollars, is a renewed renewable energy supporter, and previously pressed to create the Solutions Solutions climate in the House of Representatives in 2016.
Bottira said he was disappointed in the result because he believed that the proposal would have helped Tesla to advance her “mission of accelerating sustainability”, which is seen as vital to the world. He said luck He does not want to see the company “endangered by unnecessary invasions in endless frictions of human policy. The Tesla brand must remain, and its mission, above that battle.”
“I hope that the Tesla Council will replace at least, knowing the intention and interest of the investor in the concept.” “They can exclude my suggestion from voting on technical foundations, but the issue – political perceptions still harm the brand Tesla, reduce sales, and emphasize government relations. I hope the council will find a way to improve this.”
In August, the Tesla Council sent a message to SEC seeking to exclude the proposal from the agent of the year 2025 without risking an enforcement procedure from the organizers. Like most companies circulated publicly, Robotat, which is valued at $ 1.3 trillion, sends an agent to Tesla shareholders before its annual meetings each year. With the exception of the proposal, it means that investors will not get an opportunity to vote at the next meeting in November.
However, some of Tesla investors hope that the council will address more directly. Retailing, individual investors who hold thousands of shares in the company provided questions and poured out on the role of CEO Elon Musk in politics – and spent his time in matters related to Tasla – on the platforms of shareholders that Tesla uses to invest in the first stage of investment in politics, there was supposed to be any of the platforms that it offers to invest in the first place in voting directly on voting and work.
Although the proposal is not explicitly mentioned Musk, the CEO of Tesla participated greatly in conservative Republican political activity since he donated millions to Super Pac devoted to the development of President Trump’s campaign for 2024. After the elections, Musk became a key player on the Trump side in the Oval Office and in Mar Lago, and it was a visual logo to manage government competence (DOGE), and appears Often in black the baseball caps. The friendship entered the resounding repercussions in June, when it played a dispute between Musk and Trump on the social media platforms of each of them, X and Truth Social. Since then, the two have cut relationships.
In its message to the Supreme Education Council, the Tesla Council argued that the proposal sought the “Defense Administration” and that Tesla itself lacks power or authority to implement such a procedure. In its response, the committee agreed that the proposal is the accurate management and told Tesla that no enforcement procedure will be recommended if the council deleted it from the agent. He did not comment on the second part of the council’s argument to exclude the proposal.
“Upon reaching this situation, we did not find that it is necessary to address the alternative basis for the omission on which the company depends,” the SEC review team wrote in a letter to Xuehui Cassie Zhang. Zhang is the Assistant General Adviser to Tesla.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It seems that the proposal” micro -management “seems to be ridiculous because my suggestion was trying to address almost an existential problem for the company. “We hope that at least give to the administration and the council and encourage them to search for their own solutions to the problem.”
The Board of Directors of Tesla told investors in primary agents that the enforcement of the principles of proposed policy may require the company to “violate the laws of states, including those that limit the company’s ability to organize political discourse for its employees.” The council included this recommendation in pre -Boxes before issuing its mission to the Supreme Education Council. A final agent will be distributed soon to investors and publicly.
Poetra said previously luck The proposal was submitted after sending a message to the council in October 2024, and they clarified his concerns and not obtaining a response.
The current business ethics code in Tesla requests employees to avoid conflicting interests that “may arise whenever your personal interests interfere, or it seems that they interfere, with the interests of Tesla.” The blog applies to all managers and employees of Tesla and it is reported that “the CEO, and all senior financial officials, including the main financial manager and accounting, are obligated to the provisions stipulated in moral behavior, conflicts of interests and compliance with the laws in force.”
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2025-09-16 22:09:00
