Tesla shareholders will soon vote whether to let the electric vehicle maker invest in Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, a proposal pitched as a way to strengthen Tesla’s ambitions in AI, robotics, and energy.
Listed in Tesla’s proxy statement alongside a company-backed push to raise Musk’s 10-year pay package to $1 trillion, the proposal comes from Stephen Hawk, a Florida shareholder with a $2,000 stake of common stock. His supporting statement reads:
Tesla’s integration of Grok into its vehicles demonstrates the tangible benefits of collaboration with xAI. As Tesla pivots toward AI-driven technologies, including Full Self-Driving and robotics, a strategic investment in xAI would secure access to advanced AI capabilities, enhance product innovation, and drive shareholder value.
The board, which often suggests investors vote against shareholder proposals, is neutral on this one.
If Tesla does end up investing in xAI, it would be the second of Musk’s companies to do so. SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, has committed to investing $2 billion in xAI as part of a $5 billion equity raise. Analysts have speculated that SpaceX’s involvement in xAI could signal the AI firm is having trouble raising from outside investors. (Musk also merged X, the company formerly known as Twitter, with xAI earlier this year.)
Some Tesla shareholders have argued that xAI is a rival to Tesla, since Musk has often described his EV company as an AI company. Last year, shareholders sued Musk and the company for allowing Musk to start a rival AI firm, but the case was dismissed.
Hawk’s proposal comes as Tesla grapples with weakening EV sales and a lackluster robotaxi rollout. The company has attempted to direct investor attention away from those headwinds and toward Tesla’s AI efforts, which center on testing and deploying autonomous vehicles and Optimus, its humanoid robot.
Musk has argued that he requires more of a controlling stake in Tesla to lead the company’s AI efforts, rather than get distracted by his other AI company. Alongside the proposal to invest in xAI, shareholders will vote on a Tesla-backed 10-year compensation plan for Musk that could give him more than 25% control.
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The filing comes as Tesla continues to appeal a Delaware judge’s decision to strike down Musk’s earlier $56 billion pay package. The new plan would tie Musk’s compensation to ambitious benchmarks, including boosting Tesla’s market value from about $1 trillion today to more than $8 trillion.
“Tesla’s not going to get to $8 trillion market cap based on FSD and robotaxi. To get to that $8 trillion, you kind of need xAI,” Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, told TechCrunch. “We’re talking numbers that have historically been inconceivable. To get to those, we need things to happen that are inconceivable right now. And one of them is humanoid robots everywhere; that’s probably the biggest lever.”
The investor noted that xAI could help Tesla reach that market cap in several ways.
“Just the excitement around xAI and Tesla together is going to move Tesla’s valuation higher,” he said, adding that potential returns from that investment and access to xAI’s resources, like compute, could help boost shareholder value and Tesla’s own AI ambitions.
Tesla’s shareholder vote is scheduled for November 6 at 3 p.m. central time at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas, and will stream live here.
Putnam’s path from that breakthrough Disrupt moment to today is a story of very smart timing. Mirror, the connected fitness device that brought boutique workout classes into homes, launched just as the pandemic created unprecedented demand for home fitness solutions. The timing proved so prescient that Lululemon acquired the company for $500 million just two years after its Disrupt debut.
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