Elon Musk may leave Tesla if he does not receive the $56 billion reward that was promised to him in 2018. In a letter sent to Tesla shareholders, Robyn Denholm who is one of the board of directors said Tesla needs to keep its promises if Elon Musk wants to stay with the company.
This year a judge in Delaware denied a deal to pay Elon Musk $56 billion because the deal was seen as unfair after receiving complaints from shareholders. Tesla shareholders will vote on June 13 to pay Elon Musk or not. In the same letter, Denholm said that if Elon Musk was not given the motivation to stay at Tesla he would probably look elsewhere.
Tesla shares have fallen sharply from $407 at the end of 2021 to $178 this month. Tesla's sales also follow the same trend as it is now overtaken by BYD as the world's largest electric car manufacturer. There is a consensus among shareholders that Elon Musk lost focus after buying Twitter in October 2022.
He sold part of his Tesla stake to finance the purchase of the social media site which is now rebranded as X. His actions caused Tesla's market value to continue to plummet and therefore he should not be rewarded which would increase his wealth by nearly 27%.