Tesla’s chair has said the carmaker needs to climb “Mount Everest” as it faces shareholder votes on relocating to Texas and Elon Musk’s $56bn pay deal, while dismissing criticism she is too close to the billionaire as “crap”.
Robyn Denholm, an Australian accountant who has chaired Tesla since 2018, is battling to win over shareholders ahead of an annual meeting on June 13 that amounts to a referendum on the mercurial leadership of the world’s third-richest person.
Tesla’s board is trying to prove that investors support a controversial pay deal that a Delaware court struck down in January. In the aftermath of the ruling, Musk vowed to leave the state and move Tesla’s incorporation to Texas.