Tesla shareholders vote for another stock split – Musk announces new factory

new York The shareholders of the automaker Tesla have cleared the way for the second stock split in about two years. This is the result of the provisional vote count on Thursday evening local time.

The AGM took place on the grounds of the Gigafactory Texas, which opened in the spring. Most shareholders voted digitally, only a small number, selected by lottery, had come to Austin in person.

Tesla plans a 1:3 stock split. This should make it easier for employees and small shareholders to invest. The share price has roughly tripled over the past two years to $925.

Wall Street hardly reacted to the decision in after-hours trading, and the stock was slightly up. The decision has no impact on the Group’s market value. In addition to Tesla, the Google parent company Alphabet and the online retailer Amazon have already announced stock splits in 2022. At Tesla, the last split took place last August.

A total of 13 draft decisions were put to the vote. Among other things, investors called on Tesla to take stronger action against discrimination and racism in the group or to critically examine the water consumption of the plants. The board of directors recommended that all of the initiatives put forward by shareholders be rejected – and its recommendations for resolutions were largely passed in the vote.

The company recently came under fire from California and state regulators for possible discrimination and harassment at its Fremont facility. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison did not stand for re-election, which will reduce the board of directors from eight to seven members.

New factory announced

As is typical for Tesla, the meeting took place in a relaxed atmosphere. Most of the shareholders who attended identified themselves as proven fans of the company and its boss, Elon Musk. Only a few critical voices were heard. Musk received regular applause during his presentation.

The recent price increase at Tesla may also have contributed to the good mood: on a monthly basis, the share is up 32 percent after strong quarterly figures – even if it has still been down 22 percent since the beginning of the year.

Musk also caused a stir at the AGM with new plans. Musk announced the construction of another factory, the location of which will probably be revealed by the end of the year. The main plant in Fremont, California is bursting at the seams.

He also held out the prospect of further expansion. Musk said Tesla could have 12 factories in a few years, requiring more new locations. They also want to increase production further. They are currently proud to have produced three million Teslas. “Could you have imagined that ten years ago when we produced 3,000 cars?” Musk asked. This will continue exponentially. In ten years it is possible that 100 million vehicles will have rolled off the assembly line at Tesla.

The model for the new factories is the plant in Shanghai: “The team there is doing a great job,” praised Musk. But employees in Texas and Berlin also worked hard. In Austin in particular, the production ramp-up has recently been significantly delayed.

Musk also announced news about the group’s charging network, called Supercharger, without going into detail. There has long been speculation on Wall Street that Tesla could open up its network of fast-charging stations to other manufacturers. Musk said more announcements would be made at the upcoming AI Day at the end of September.

The billionaire allowed himself a few swipes at the competition: “Every time the others advertise electric cars, our orders increase,” he joked.

The coming recession will be short, Musk predicted in the question-and-answer portion of the AGM, and last “maybe 18 months.” Inflation will make price adjustments necessary for the upcoming Cybertruck, but he assumes that it will drop significantly.

Little criticism on the topics of autopilot and Twitter

There was little that was new when it came to the important topic of autopilots. Musk himself didn’t seem quite serious when he again announced full autonomous driving “by the end of the year.” The billionaire has repeatedly promised that, but Tesla has consistently missed the mark. Most recently, an important manager left the company division. Musk said on Thursday evening that there would soon be further updates for the system, including new functions.

Unlike the competition, Tesla’s concept for autonomous driving does not use radar and laser sensors, but only cameras. Their images are evaluated by AI. This saves Tesla expensive lidar sensors, but Musk believes in the approach. So far, however, AI has not been able to reliably replace the many sensors and systems of the competition. The procedure is also a thorn in the side of the supervisor.

Surprisingly, one of the most important topics of the past few months, which had weighed heavily on Tesla’s share price, hardly played a role: the $44 billion takeover of Twitter, which Musk first announced and then froze.

The dispute with the short message service continues to widen: While Musk wants to call off the purchase, the Twitter board insists on the deal. Now a court in Delaware has to decide. A 164-page counterclaim filed by Musk against Twitter contains numerous allegations against the company, including false information about the number of fake accounts, a report by Insider magazine revealed on Thursday evening.

Despite the further escalation of the legal dispute, the Twitter complex was hardly discussed on Thursday evening. Only when asked by investors did Musk comment: Twitter is the only publicly traded company in which he has a stake, alongside Tesla. “I use the product a lot and I would have known what would have to be changed.”

As is so often the case, the audience responded with applause instead of critical scrutiny. One shareholder identified himself as a “big fan” and criticized the media for their dealings with Musk. A young soldier offered himself as a “space marine” for Musk’s future Mars base. And another shareholder sent greetings from his six-year-old daughter, also a Musk fan: “Thank you for making the world a better place.”

“Thank you for your support. I think Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world,” beamed the billionaire before disappearing from the stage. No matter how strong the headwind on Wall Street, Musk can continue to count on the support of many small shareholders.

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