Top Lessons From Tesla On Doing Executive Pay Right

The Tesla shareholder meeting has prompted plenty of headlines and broader discussions about CEO pay. Shareholders voted to reinstall CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package, which had been approved by them in 2018 and then voided by a Delaware Chancery judge after a shareholder lawsuit.

The actual Delaware ruling was not based on whether or not the payment amount was excessive or unfair. It stemmed from the judge’s view that the process for obtaining the original board and shareholder approval was “inadequate.” READ MORE

Vermont Becomes Latest State to Enact Pay Transparency Law

Vermont has joined the growing list of jurisdictions with pay transparency laws.

On June 4, 2024, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed “An Act Relating to Disclosure of Compensation in Job Advertisements” (the “Act”). Pursuant to the Act, which will take effect on July 1, 2025, many employers will soon be required to ensure that any advertisement of a Vermont job opening includes a disclosure regarding the compensation, or range of compensation, available for the job opening. Proponents of the bill cite advancement of pay equity and reduction of gender and racial pay gaps as among the expected outcomes of implementation.  READ MORE

US executive pay rises at fastest rate in 14 years

US bosses’ pay is increasing at the fastest rate for at least 14 years, according to new figures that critics say illustrate how ballooning reward packages such as Elon Musk’s risk exacerbating social inequality.

So far in 2024, median chief executive pay at S&P 500 companies has risen by 12 per cent, according to ISS Corporate, part of proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services. That compares with a 4.1 per cent year-on-year increase in US wage growth, according to official figures. READ MORE

Musk’s X demands money from laid-off employees, claims they were overpaid

Elon Musk's X Corp. is reportedly demanding money from at least six Australians who were laid off, saying the company accidentally overpaid them. The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that "X is threatening to take some former Australian employees to court, demanding they return entitlements it claims were overpaid to them after it bungled the currency conversion from US to Australian dollars on the payments."

Emails sent this year by X's Asia Pacific human resources department to the laid-off employees said there was "a significant overpayment in error in January 2023." The alleged overpayments ranged from $1,500 to $70,000 for each employee. READ MORE

Tesla Chair Warns Elon Musk Might Quit Tesla If He Doesn't Get His Pay Package. Fans Say Fine, We're Fed Up With Him

In an impassioned letter registered with US regulators, Tesla's chair Robyn Denholm pleaded with shareholders to approve the reinstatement of CEO Elon Musk's astronomical $56 billion pay package, which was thrown out by a judge in January.

The topic is on the agenda at next week's annual shareholders meeting, where investors will vote on the matter. READ MORE

Strong US Payrolls and Wage Growth Push Back Bets for Fed Cuts

US job growth surged in May and wages accelerated, prompting traders to push back the expected timing of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.

Nonfarm payrolls advanced 272,000 last month, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed Friday, beating all projections in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Average hourly earnings climbed 0.4% from April and 4.1% from a year ago, both picking up from the prior report. READ MORE

Tesla’s Shareholders Should Get to Decide Musk’s Compensation

The Delaware Chancery Court’s decision in January to nullify Elon Musk’s $55 billion compensation package leaves the CEO of Tesla Inc. without any compensation for six years. Even knowing that, Tesla is allowing its stockholders to ratify Musk’s 2018 pay package at its annual meeting on June 13.

Seeking such ratification isn’t just permitted under established Delaware law—it’s a sensible path forward. Shareholders should have say in decisions affecting their investment, including executive compensation. READ MORE

The Case Against Elon Musk’s $46 Billion Pay Deal

If this column had a vote, which it doesn’t, it would cast it against Elon Musk’s gargantuan pay deal at Tesla’s coming annual general meeting.

Worth $46 billion at the latest share price, the chief executive’s contested 2018 packet is disproportionate in every way. It is almost 300 times as much as what America’s best-paid CEO for 2023 earned ($162 million). It is also more than twice the annual free cash flows Tesla has generated in its entire existence, including expectations for this year ($22.5 billion). And, crucially for shareholders, who would pay for it through the dilution of their holdings, it is about 8% of the company’s market value ($557 billion). READ MORE

High-tech salaries continue to rise, break new ground

The average salary in the high-tech sector continues to soar according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, reaching a new record in March for the second month in a row at NIS 35,870 ($9,710), a 5.6% increase from NIS 33,964 ($9,194) in February. This marks a 19.1% increase compared to NIS 30,126 ($8,155) in January. Conversely, the average salary in the general economy experienced a predicted correction in April, dropping by 4.2% to NIS 13,493 ($3,652), after reaching an all-time high of NIS 14,709 ($3,981) in March. READ MORE

The highest paying AI jobs: $650k salaries

High paying jobs in artificial intelligence are all the rage these days, but roles offering $300k+ salaries are few and far between. An industry like financial services, which has reiterated its commitment to AI countless times, should be paying top dollar for talent, and yet is outshone by contemporaries across the tech sector. Among them all, however, who pays the most?

We've examined salary data from the H1B Visa Salary Database since the start of 2023.  It's worth noting that salary data is not wholly reflective of total compensation (it's only salary), and nor is the database wholly reflective of a global company's pay habits (it only applies to H1B visa recipients), but that it still provides some interesting insights. The two top payers, however, may not be too surprising. READ MORE

Advisory firms push Tesla investors to deny Musk 'excessive' $56bn pay packet

ISS, a leading proxy advisory firm, has become the second such company to advise Tesla investors to vote against a $56billion pay packet for CEO Elon Musk.

The advisory firm joins Glass Lewis, its major competitor, in calling for shareholders to veto the package, describing it as ‘excessive.’

The eye-watering compensation plan would be the biggest for any CEO in corporate America. READ MORE