January 13 News: Europe's largest pension fund, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (referred to as "ABP"), sold all of its Tesla shares worth €571 million (approximately $585 million) in the third quarter of last year, partly due to disagreements over Elon Musk's compensation plan.
An ABP spokesperson stated on January 12, "We have concerns about Musk's compensation." The fund also considered costs, returns, and the requirements for responsible investing when making the decision to sell its investment.
In June last year, ABP had voted against Musk’s compensation plan, calling it “controversial and excessively high.” However, at that time, Musk's compensation plan was still approved by Tesla's shareholders.
Regarding the sale of Tesla shares, ABP stated that despite the significant increase in Tesla's stock price since the end of September last year, they did not regret the decision. ABP emphasized, "We are long-term investors." ABP also clarified that the sale of the stock had nothing to do with Musk's role in U.S. politics.
Last month, Musk's record-breaking Tesla compensation plan was once again rejected by a Delaware judge. On December 2, 2024, U.S. Delaware District Court Judge Catherine St. John McCormick upheld her January 2024 ruling, stating that the Tesla board was overly influenced by Musk when approving his compensation plan in 2018. It is reported that the compensation plan was initially valued at US$2.6 billion and had risen to US$56 billion by the time the judge canceled it.
McCormick's ruling overturned the largest executive compensation plan in U.S. corporate history, and if the appeal fails, it could drastically reduce Musk's wealth and impact the future of his company. It is reported that Musk can appeal this decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.
After McCormick's January ruling to cancel the plan, Musk criticized the court on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "Never register your company in Delaware." Subsequently, Tesla held a shareholder vote, deciding to re-register the company in Texas, and officially moved its corporate registration to the state in June of last year.
Decline in Delivery Numbers Last Year
On January 2, local time, Tesla's data showed that the company delivered approximately 1.79 million cars globally in 2024, a 1.1% decrease from 2023. This marks Tesla's first year-over-year decline in annual sales since 2015, and the number fell short of analysts' expectations of 1.8 million.
However, Tesla's performance in the Chinese market remained strong. According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) and media estimates, Tesla's domestic sales in December reached 83,000 units, a 12.8% month-on-month increase. Annual sales exceeded 657,000 units, a year-on-year growth of 8.8%, setting a new historical record. Currently, Tesla remains the world's top seller of pure electric vehicles, although BYD is narrowing the gap.
