Tesla gets multiple shareholder proposals related to investment in xAI

[BENGALURU] Tesla said on Friday (Jul 25) it had received a number of shareholder proposals regarding the company’s plan to invest in CEO Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI.

Musk ruled out a merger between Tesla and xAI earlier in July, but said he planned to hold a shareholder vote on investment in the startup by the automaker.

The proposals come amid significant funding activity for xAI this year. The startup completed a US$5 billion debt raise alongside a separate US$5 billion strategic equity investment, Morgan Stanley said last month.

Musk has pursued an integration strategy across his business empire, with xAI acquiring social media platform X in March for US$33 billion to enhance its chatbot training capabilities, while also integrating the Grok chatbot into Tesla vehicles.

The potential investment discussion comes as Tesla faces various challenges, including Musk’s political activities, which have impacted demand for its electric vehicles and triggered a 22 per cent drop in its shares this year.

“Shareholders are welcome to put forward any shareholder proposals they’d like,” Musk said on Tesla’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday.

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Tesla, which will hold its annual shareholder meeting on Nov 6, said it would only include one proposal on each topic in its proxy statement, in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission rules.

Earlier this month, the board set Jul 31 as the deadline for the submission of shareholder proposals to be included in the proxy statement. REUTERS