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Elon Musk clashed with Nicolai Tangen, chief government of the Norwegian oil fund, after the fund final 12 months voted in opposition to the Tesla boss’s enormous pay bundle, newly launched textual content messages present.
Norges Financial institution Funding Administration (NBIM), which manages $1.7tn of Norway’s oil wealth and is Tesla’s seventh-largest shareholder with a 1 per cent stake, final June voted in opposition to Musk’s $56bn pay bundle, the largest for a chief government in company America, at Tesla’s annual common assembly.
Tangen later invited Musk to a dinner — with Ferrari chief Benedetto Vigna, amongst others — at Tangen’s personal residence in Oslo. The chief executives of Novo Nordisk, Nestlé, DoorDash and Adidas have been additionally invited to attend the dinner forward of the oil fund’s annual funding convention in April this 12 months, in keeping with earlier messages that grew to become public final 12 months.
The newest correspondence between the 2 from October reveals that Musk turned the invitation down: “Once I ask you for a favour which I very not often do, and also you decline, then you shouldn’t ask me for one till you’ve performed one thing above nothing to make amends.
“Mates are as pals do,” Musk added. The messages, which have been launched beneath a freedom of data request on Tuesday, have been first reported by E24, a Norwegian enterprise day by day.
NBIM stated it selected to publish the alternate of messages between the boys in mild of the elevated curiosity within the scenario. “Because the [messages] present, a number of the dialogue was linked to our voting report at Tesla, the place we voted no to Elon Musk’s pay bundle, amongst different votes,” the corporate stated.
Musk was approached for remark however didn’t instantly reply.
NBIM has lengthy used its holdings in world corporations to withstand massive pay packages for executives. Tangen instructed the Monetary Instances final 12 months that it might particularly goal “massive wage packages that weren’t justified by efficiency, or have been opaque or insufficiently long-term”.
Within the messages, Musk additionally despatched Tangen a screenshot of correspondence with an unidentified affiliate the place the oil fund boss is accused of being “a harmful politician” and that he has “political ambitions utilizing the oil fund to advertise himself”.
Musk’s pay bundle, value $56bn when it was initially awarded in 2018, was rejected by Delaware choose Kathaleen McCormick at first of 2024, and once more in December final 12 months by the identical choose.
Consisting of inventory choices, it’s now valued at greater than $100bn due to the practically 40 per cent surge in Tesla shares because the US election.
Tesla has vowed to enchantment in opposition to the choice. “This ruling, if not overturned, signifies that judges and plaintiffs’ legal professionals run Delaware corporations fairly than their rightful homeowners — the shareholders,” it stated after the December ruling.
