By CALUM MUIRHEAD, CHIEF CITY REPORTER
Tesla has handed Elon Musk £22billion worth of shares after the tycoon threatened to quit the electric car maker.
The firm said its board agreed to give its billionaire head 96m shares as part of a pay deal, according to a recent filing.
Tesla’s share price of $309.60 values the package at £22.3billion, but under the plan Musk must pay the company $23.34 a share – about £1.7billion.
The firm said it was ‘an important first step’ in compensating Musk for ‘his extraordinary work’, adding: ‘Retaining Elon is more important than ever before’, and crucial in attracting new talent as Tesla shifts its business towards AI and self-driving robo-taxis.
Daniel Ives, analyst at Wedbush Research, said the package would be enough to ‘keep Musk as chief executive of Tesla at least until 2030,’ and that he was the firm’s ‘most important asset’.
Musk, the largest shareholder with a 12.7 per cent stake, threatened to quit if he was not given more shares, saying activist shareholders could ‘easily’ oust him.
‘Extraordinary’: Elon Musk is expected to stay on at Tesla until at least 2030 after being handed £22bn in shares
He and the company remain embroiled in a legal battle in Delaware over a £42billion pay award granted to Musk in 2018.
That was struck down by a judge last year, who ruled it excessive.
Tesla said that if the ruling is reversed on appeal, Musk will forgo the £22billion package. Its shares rose 2.2 per cent.
