Tesla shareholders to vote on moving incorporation to Texas, says Musk

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Elon Musk has said Tesla will hold an investor vote on whether to move its corporate registration to Texas, in the wake of a court judgment in Delaware that voided his $56bn pay package.

Tesla will “immediately” hold a shareholder vote on whether to transfer its incorporation from Delaware to Texas, the carmaker’s chief executive wrote in a post on his social media platform X on Wednesday night.

Musk cited an earlier poll he posted on X asking: “Should Tesla change its state of incorporation to Texas, home of its physical headquarters?” The result showed 87.1 per cent of 1.1mn voters thought Tesla should change its state of incorporation.

His comments came after a Delaware judge on Tuesday voided a pay package that was granted to him in 2018.

Following the decision, Musk wrote on X: “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.”

The pay incentive scheme granted Musk the largest pay package in corporate history provided he hit 12 out of 16 ambitious financial targets.

Musk’s insistence that Tesla shareholders vote on a move to incorporate in Texas would be in line with other strengthening of ties with the state.

Tesla was previously headquartered in California’s San Francisco Bay area before moving its main office to Austin, Texas, in 2021.

Tesla’s share price is down 24.6 per cent in the year to date as increased competition, flagging demand and high interest rates slow sales growth.