Tesla Shareholders Will Vote Today on Whether to Kick Elon Musk's Brother off the Company's Board Shareholders will vote on the future of Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch on the company's board.
By Isobel Asher Hamilton Edited by Emily Rella
This story originally appeared on Business Insider
Tesla shareholders are due to vote Thursday on whether to oust James Murdoch and Kimbal Musk, the brother of CEO Elon Musk, from the company's board.
The vote on the pair's possible reelection will take place at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, which it will host at its factory in Austin, Texas.
Shareholder proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) wrote to clients on September 24 saying Tesla's board members were overpaid compared to board members at similar companies, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, received $32,500 for serving on Tesla's board last year, and Kimbal Musk received $20,000, per a Tesla Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
Other directors make much more money, but Murdoch and Musk are the only members up for reelection this year. ISS said they should be denied the chance to continue serving, The New York Times reported.
Chair of the board Robyn Denholm was paid $5.7 million last year and board member Hiromichi Mizuno was paid $9 million. Both Denholm and Mizuno were paid largely in stock options.
ISS made a similar recommendation to investors in 2018 to oust Murdoch and now-outgoing director Antonio Gracias.
Separately, a proposal from Morgan Stanley-owned Calvert Research and Management that is due to be voted on calls for more transparency on Tesla's diversity and inclusion efforts, SEC filings show.
Nia Impact Capital, a small shareholder, also submitted a proposal that would force Tesla to publish a report on its inclusion of mandatory arbitration in employee contracts, the filings show. Mandatory arbitration means employees can't bring disputes to court.
On Monday, Tesla was ordered to pay former elevator operator Owen Diaz $137 million after he filed a racial harassment lawsuit against the company.
Attorneys for Diaz, who was a contractor and not directly employed by Tesla, told CNBC he was only able to bring the case because he had not signed an arbitration agreement.
Another proposal submitted by shareholder Sisters of the Good Shepherd would force Tesla to commission an independent third-party report on whether it's ensuring there are no human rights abuses in its supply chain.
In an SEC filing, Tesla urged investors to reelect Musk and Murdoch. It also urged investors to vote against the proposals from Calvert Research and Management, Nia Impact Capital, and Sisters of the Good Shepherd in an SEC filing.
