One of World’s Largest Investors to Vote Against Musk Pay Package

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jun 10, 7:03AM EDT · Published Jun 8, 6:28AM EDT

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One of World’s Largest Investors to Vote Against Musk Pay Package — © Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc / Getty Images

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The Norwegian Wealth Fund has said it will vote against Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package.

The Norwegian Wealth Fund, officially the Government Pension Fund-Global (GPF-G), was founded in the 1990s using the nation’s massive oil and gas holdings. For a small country, the fund is huge. It made $213 billion last year on its $1.6 trillion portfolio. (Norway’s gross domestic product is only about $550 billion, which ranks it 30th globally.) Over the years, it has invested in thousands of companies across scores of nations. Its influence in the investment world cannot be overrated. It said it would vote against Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) $56 billion pay package, as it did when it was initially introduced in 2018.

What’s at Stake

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According to CNBC, the Government Pension Fund-Global (GPF-G) holds less than 1% of Tesla’s shares. However, for other major institutions worldwide, the size of the holdings is not the issue. The issue is that the fund is one of the most visible investors anywhere.

Investors are lining up for a vote about the pay package at Tesla’s annual meeting on June 13. One obstacle for Tesla’s board, which has championed the package, is that a judge invaded the arrangement because, as the court said, it was an” unfathomable” sum against shareholder interests.

A considerable amount is at stake. One issue is whether a judge should reverse a pay package investors have already approved. The other is that Musk may walk away from Tesla and spend more time with his other investments. Such an action would be a massive blow to Tesla. This is among the reasons for the board’s pay recommendation. The Government Pension Fund-Global (GPF-G) could tip the scales. Its place in the world of global investing is that large.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.