NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) -If the $690 billion Tesla TSLA.O faces an unravelling, Twitter might have gotten the ball rolling. Boss Elon Musk wants 25% voting control of the carmaker, after selling down shares to help finance a 2022 deal for the social-media company now known as X. His online foray risked making him an absentee CEO; increasing his stake in Tesla would throw bad governance after bad.
The billionaire posted on X on Monday that he is “uncomfortable” developing Tesla into a leader in artificial intelligence unless he has more control. Given that Tesla does not have super-voting shares, the simplest way to do that is to issue common stock to Musk. Taking dilution into account, that would mean about $100 billion worth of shares. Musk has a bundle of unexercised options good for a near-9% stake that would reduce the payout needed if exercised, but would entail a huge tax hit. To stay within the safest bounds of corporate law, issuing so many shares as compensation would require an independent board committee’s sign-off and a vote of disinterested shareholders.