San Francisco: Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon musk The electric car maker plans to move its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Silicon Valley, on Thursday. Texas, where it is building a huge car and battery manufacturing complex.
Tesla joined Oracle, HP and Toyota Motor to move US headquarters from California to Texas, which has relatively high taxes and cost of living. While Silicon Valley is also a hive of developing new ideas and companies, Texas is known for cheaper labor and less stringent regulation.
“I am excited to announce that we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk said at the company’s annual meeting held at a Texas car factory.
“This is not the case for Tesla leaving California,” he said, adding that it plans to increase production by 50% from its main California factory and Nevada factory.
The Fremont, Calif. factory is nonetheless “jammed” and it’s difficult for people to buy homes in California, he said.
Billionaire Musk moved from California to the Lone Star State in December to focus on the electric-car maker’s new plant in the state and his SpaceX rocket company, which has a launch site in the southern tip of Texas.
For example, Musk had a rocky relationship with California at times during the closure of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, due to COVID-19 threatening to move Tesla headquarters and future programs to Texas .
At the meeting he showed off a design that looked like a cowboy-style belt buckle with a T in the style of “Don’t Mess with the T” – the Tesla logo. The phrase is based on a venerable and popular Texas anti-dusting campaign – Don’t Mess With Texas.
Director’s tenure cut
Despite some criticism from activist shareholders and a proxy advisory service, shareholders followed the board’s guidance on several key proposals, including the re-election of Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and James Murdoch as board directors.
But they voted in favor of a proposal to reduce the director’s terms from three years to one year, and for additional reporting on diversity and inclusion efforts.
“It’s unfortunate that shareholders didn’t agree to remove Murdoch and Musk’s brother. But I think they know they’re under pressure,” said Stephen Diamond, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.
“They have too much work to do on governance. Simply changing the wording is an artifact of a larger governance issue,” said Columbia Business School professor William Klepper.
Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that Tesla investors not re-elect the two directors because of concerns about an exorbitant compensation package to non-executive board members.
Shareholders also voted against a stockholder proposal calling for a study of the impact of Tesla’s use of arbitration on workplace harassment and discrimination.
The proposal, opposed by the board, hit headlines on Monday after a black former contract worker won a $137 million jury prize against Tesla over workplace racism.
Tesla joined Oracle, HP and Toyota Motor to move US headquarters from California to Texas, which has relatively high taxes and cost of living. While Silicon Valley is also a hive of developing new ideas and companies, Texas is known for cheaper labor and less stringent regulation.
“I am excited to announce that we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk said at the company’s annual meeting held at a Texas car factory.
“This is not the case for Tesla leaving California,” he said, adding that it plans to increase production by 50% from its main California factory and Nevada factory.
The Fremont, Calif. factory is nonetheless “jammed” and it’s difficult for people to buy homes in California, he said.
Billionaire Musk moved from California to the Lone Star State in December to focus on the electric-car maker’s new plant in the state and his SpaceX rocket company, which has a launch site in the southern tip of Texas.
For example, Musk had a rocky relationship with California at times during the closure of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, due to COVID-19 threatening to move Tesla headquarters and future programs to Texas .
At the meeting he showed off a design that looked like a cowboy-style belt buckle with a T in the style of “Don’t Mess with the T” – the Tesla logo. The phrase is based on a venerable and popular Texas anti-dusting campaign – Don’t Mess With Texas.
Director’s tenure cut
Despite some criticism from activist shareholders and a proxy advisory service, shareholders followed the board’s guidance on several key proposals, including the re-election of Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and James Murdoch as board directors.
But they voted in favor of a proposal to reduce the director’s terms from three years to one year, and for additional reporting on diversity and inclusion efforts.
“It’s unfortunate that shareholders didn’t agree to remove Murdoch and Musk’s brother. But I think they know they’re under pressure,” said Stephen Diamond, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.
“They have too much work to do on governance. Simply changing the wording is an artifact of a larger governance issue,” said Columbia Business School professor William Klepper.
Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that Tesla investors not re-elect the two directors because of concerns about an exorbitant compensation package to non-executive board members.
Shareholders also voted against a stockholder proposal calling for a study of the impact of Tesla’s use of arbitration on workplace harassment and discrimination.
The proposal, opposed by the board, hit headlines on Monday after a black former contract worker won a $137 million jury prize against Tesla over workplace racism.
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