Tesla Shareholder Votes Against Elon Musk’s $55 Billion Pay Package, Says 'Tyrant CEO' Abandons EV Maker for His Other Firms

By Jace Dela Cruz

May 16 2024, 08:28 AM EDT

Leo Koguan, a billionaire from Singapore and the biggest retail investor of Tesla, has reportedly voted against reinstating the $55 billion compensation package of Elon Musk.

According to Forbes, this vote comes ahead of Tesla's annual meeting after a Delaware judge rescinded Musk's 2018 CEO pay package last January.

Tesla Reaffirms Elon Musk's $56 Billion Pay Package Despite Legal Setback — Billionaire Leo Koguan, the biggest retail shareholder of Tesla, has reportedly voted against reinstating the $55 billion compensation package of Elon Musk. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Tesla Biggest Retail Shareholder Votes Against $55 Billion Compensation Package of Elon Musk

Leo Koguan, the founder of IT provider SHI International with a net worth of $5.9 billion, also told Forbes that he voted all his 27.7 million shares of Tesla against changing the company's location of business incorporation from Delaware to Texas, new board terms for Elon Musk, for his brother Kimbal, and James Murdoch, and maintaining PricewaterhouseCoopers as the EV maker's accounting firm.

"He is temporarily back to claim his $55 billion ransom money. I am broken-hearted," Koguan told Forbes, which reported that Tesla shareholders are voting ahead of its annual meeting on June 13.

"Lately, I've discovered Tesla has one shareholder, a one-person (board of directors) and one tyrant CEO. I tried to reach out, but he doesn't listen to anyone. Only to his own loud voices in his head," he added.

Tesla Shareholder Says Elon Musk Should Do His Job as CEO

Once an admirer of Elon Musk, Leo Koguan now criticized him for not doing his job as Tesla CEO as Musk "abandoned" the EV maker for his other firms. He said Musk had "already received 13% of Tesla" and "funded all his ventures from the Tesla ATM machine."

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm has been urging shareholders to vote to restore Musk's compensation package to motivate the Tesla CEO to drive innovation and growth. Denholm also encouraged the shareholders to support the move of its incorporation to Texas.

However, Koguan, the largest Tesla investor to make his intention known, remained unconvinced as he maintained that Musk received "more than enough" money from the company.