Tesla announces Nov. annual meeting under pressure from shareholders, but may still be skirting law
Billionaire Elon Musk's company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that the meeting would be held Nov. 6, but that may prove troublesome because it comes nearly three months after it is required to do so under state law in Texas, where the company is incorporated.
The annual meeting, given Tesla's fortunes this year, has the potential to be a raucous event and it is unclear how investors will react to the delay, which is rare for major U.S. corporations.
Tesla shares have plunged 27% this year, largely due to blowback over Musk's affiliation with President Donald Trump, as well as rising competition.
The announcement of the meeting comes a day after a group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders sent a letter to the company's board pressing for an annual meeting after receiving now word of one with the deadline just days away.
Many shareholders have been miffed by Musk's participation in the Trump administration this year, saying he needs to focus on his EV company which is facing extraordinary pressures.
'An annual meeting provides shareholders with the opportunity to hear directly from the board about these concerns, and to vote for or against directors, the board's approach to executive compensation, and other matters of material importance,' the group said in the letter.
The group cited Texas law, which requires companies to schedule annual shareholders meetings within 13 months of the prior annual meeting.
Tesla's last shareholders meeting was on June 13 of last year, where investors voted to restore Musk's record $44.9 billion pay package that was thrown out by a Delaware judge earlier that year.
Also on Thursday, Musk that the Grok chatbot will be heading to Tesla vehicles.
'Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,' Musk said on social media platform X, in response to a post stating that Grok implementation on Teslas wasn't announced on the Grok update livestream on Wednesday.
Grok was developed by Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI and pitched as an alternative to 'woke AI' interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini, or OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Yet Grok has had a bumpy ride during its rollout.
On Wednesday xAI announced that it was taking down 'inappropriate posts' made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.
Shares of Tesla rose slightly before the opening bell on Thursday.
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