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Tesla has granted CEO Elon Musk shares worth about $29 billion, in a new pay deal aimed at keeping the billionaire entrepreneur at the helm during a crucial pivot from its struggling core auto business to robotaxis and humanoid robots. The company described the grant of the 96 million new shares as a first step, “good faith” payment to honor Musk’s more than $50 billion pay package from 2018 that was struck down by a Delaware court last year. A longer-term CEO compensation plan will be put to a vote at its annual investor meeting on November 6. The Delaware ruling had cited flaws in the board’s approval process and unfairness to investors. Musk kicked off an appeal against the order in March, claiming a lower court judge made multiple legal errors in rescinding the record compensation. The world’s most valuable automaker is at a turning point, with Musk, its largest shareholder with a 13% stake, positioning it more as an AI and robotics company amid falling sales in its mainstay auto business and a slump in its share price. The share award is designed to gradually boost Musk’s voting power, something he and shareholders have consistently insisted was key to keeping him focused on Tesla’s mission, said a special committee Tesla formed earlier this year to consider Musk’s compensation. It consists of chair Robyn Denholm and independent director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. “While we recognize Elon’s business ventures, interests and other potential demands on his time and attention are extensive and wide-ranging we are confident this award will incentivize Elon to remain at Tesla,” the committee said in Monday’s filing. The new shares vest only if Musk remains in a key executive role through 2027. They also have a five-year holding period, except to cover tax payments or the purchase price of $23.34 per share, which is equal to the exercise price of the 2018 award. If the Delaware courts fully reinstate the 2018 CEO Performance Award, the new interim grant will either be forfeited or offset and there will be no “double dip,” according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “This is simply a repackaged version of what was done years ago and was ruled improper by a judge,” said Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “It renders the Delaware court decision effectively meaningless,” said Elson, who had filed amicus briefs supporting the Delaware Court’s decision to void Musk’s 2018 award. AUTO BUSINESS STRUGGLES Gary Black, a longtime Tesla investor who sold his position recently, said on X the award should be viewed “very favorably” for the company as it aligns Musk’s incentives with the shareholders and removes uncertainty about him leaving. Tesla shares rose more than 2% in premarket trading. They have gained almost 2,000% in the past decade, far outperforming the around 200% increase in the benchmark S&P 500 index. But the stock has come under pressure this year, losing about a quarter of its value as Tesla grapples with a sales decline wrought by its aging vehicle line-up, tough competition and Musk’s political stances that have alienated some buyers. The challenges have been worsened by U.S. government cuts in support for EVs. Musk said at a post-earnings call last month the waning subsidies could lead to a “few rough quarters” before a wave of revenue from self-driving software and services begins late next year. Analysts expect Tesla to post another annual sales decline in 2025 after its first one last year. S&P Global Mobility data shared exclusively with Reuters showed on Monday that Tesla’s brand loyalty had plunged since Musk endorsed U.S. President Donald Trump last summer. The world’s most powerful person and its richest had a falling out earlier this year. And Musk has raised fears about whether he will be able to devote enough time and attention to Tesla after he locked horns with Trump by forming a new political party. The company also faces a long regulatory road to its robotaxi bet. It started a small trial of its robotaxis in Austin, Texas, June with about a dozen Model Y SUVs. But it lacks permits to offer the service in California, where it last week launched a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area without indicating whether it would be using self-driving vehicles that power its Austin operations. (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Anil D’Silva) Aditya Soni, Reuters
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Boeing workers who build fighter jets went on strike Monday at midnight Central Daylight Time.About 3,200 workers at Boeing facilities in St. Louis; St. Charles, Missouri; and Mascoutah, Illinois, voted to reject a modified four-year labor agreement with Boeing, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said Sunday.In a post on X, the union said: “3,200 highly-skilled IAM Union members at Boeing went on strike at midnight because enough is enough.”The vote followed members’ rejection last week of an earlier proposal from the troubled aerospace giant, which had included a 20% wage increase over four years.“IAM District 837 members build the aircraft and defense systems that keep our country safe,” said Sam Cicinelli, Midwest territory general vice president for the union, in a statement. “They deserve nothing less than a contract that keeps their families secure and recognizes their unmatched expertise.”At the time of the earlier vote, union leaders had recommended approving the offer, calling it a “landmark agreement” and saying it would improve medical, pension and overtime benefits.The union members rejected the latest proposal after a weeklong cooling-off period.“We’re disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth and resolved their primary issue on alternative work schedules,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice president and general manager, and senior St. Louis site executive. “We are prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.”Boeing has been struggling after two of its Boeing 737 Max airplanes crashed, one in Indonesia in 2018 and the other in Ethiopia in 2019, killing 346 people. In June, one of Boeing’s Dreamliner planes, operated by Air India, crashed, killing at least 260 people.Last week, Boeing reported that its second-quarter revenue had improved and losses had narrowed. The company lost $611 million in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $1.44 billion during the same period last year. Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
When Beyoncé launched the track list to her album Cowboy Carter ahead of its release in March 2024, Levis chief marketing officer Kenny Mitchell spotted an opportunity. Noticing the song Leviis Jeans, Mitchell moved quickly, renaming the brands social channels as Leviisa move that he says paved the way for one of the brands most ambitious and effective collaborations. Its resulted in a series of ads, a capsule collection, and innumerably viral moments on Beyoncés Cowboy Carter tour, with the singer wearing custom Levis throughout. I connected with Mitchell for a wide-ranging conversation where he shared his playbook for the groundbreaking Beyoncé colab, how subcultures can be just as important as mass-market events, why he and Levi’s didn’t buckle in the face of the pressure for the company to drop its DEI initiatives, and his four-step process for crafting a compelling brand story. [Photo: Levi’s] How do you identify brand partners? Obviously Beyoncé is part of that, but how else do you try to connect Levis to the zeitgeist? Often when we show up in culture, it can happen in the form of being adjacent and connected to some of the biggest icons in the world. Beyoncé is a great representation of that. But it also is a showing up meaningfully in important subcultures. A subculture we connected with is sneakerheads with the Air Max collaboration that we had with Nike last month, which sold in minutes on our site. Another example is working with streetwear designer Tremaine Emory and Denim Tears, which is a longtime partnership. Levis chief marketing officer Kenny Mitchell [Photo: Levi’s] If you think about culture more broadly, the mainstream right now is made up of a bunch of things that used to be in subcultures. That’s where so much opinion is initially built and formed. We look at these opportunities to show up in culture as a way to demonstrate some of the elasticity of our brand. So it’s important for us to be deep in the subcultures, while remaining a democratic brand thats top of mind for people regardless of your station in life. This final installment of the “Reiimagine” campaign with Beyoncé is coming on the heels of the American Eagle ad with Sydney Sweeneyand all of the backlash to it, amid this broader trend of brands moving away from the idea of diversity and that “democratic” approach, as you put it. Levis has remained committed to those ideas, though. How do you view Levis in this moment? I cant really speak to other brands, but what I can say is that we as a brand have done our best to operate in a way that’s consistent with our values. You can see that in things like our Pride collection, which we continue to execute and be very proud of. We are a global company and we are activating in ways that reflect our fans and our consumersand they are diverse by nature. So we are going to keep operating in that fashion. We recently had a proxy challenge against some of our DEI efforts, and Im incredibly proud that our executive team, our board, as well as our shareholders completely rejected that, and weve stayed committed to operating in ways that are aligned with our values. [Photo: Levi’s] How have you used the “Reiimagine” campaign to live up to those values? At the heart of the “Reiimagined” campaign is the fact that Levis has served as what we call this “uniform of progress.” Thats a key part of what we often talk about in terms of breaking and building the codes of culture. Beyoncé has been driving a tremendous amount of progress in culture. So what weve created together is reinterpreting iconic ads that were almost always shown through the lens of a white male protagonist and centering them on a woman of color in an empowering way. Its very much aligned with our strategy and brand point of view of being this outfitter of the worlds change agents, icons, and originals. With the 501 Curvy product, were using Beyoncé as an example of how were taking an iconic look and continuing to evolve and progress it. Its an opportunity to take the insights we hear from our fans and uses these great cultural moments to help elevate some of our product innovation stories. [Photo: Levi’s] When youre developing a campaign or strategy, how do you identify what will make an impact? When I think about storytelling, I have a little acronym that I sometimes useCASE. C stands for creative, A stands for authentic, S stands for strategic, and E stands for emotional. With the C, are you tackling your storytelling in a way that’s novel, that’s interesting, that’s creative? The A: Is the story youre telling authentic to your consumer and fan, and is it also true to the brand? Those pieces are really important. Strategic: Is it answering the brief? Because creativity without strategy is artand Im not in the business of making art. Im doing marketing and advertising. I want people to act or change their belief or perception. And the E: Does it make you feel something? When I embark on just about any effort, thats a framework that ive taken with me everywhere and its served me decently well.
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