Assigning Elon Musk as shareholder proxy?

[SkyCaptain04T]

Tesla Model 3 owner here.

I recently sold half my BRK-B and bought TSLA. Might sell the rest of the BRK-B and repeat.

Now I'd like to assign Elon Musk as my proxy in all votes. I've emailed investor relations, hopefully they'll respond.

Has anyone else done this? How many proxy shares would he need to harass the SEC's two additional board members into oblivion? I don't think I can afford that many, but it's an entertaining thought

Since someone is bound to ask 'why': As an engineer, I've lost all respect for the MBA short-term profit mentality and the stock market hit-men and leeches of the world. Either create or enhance capability, support the effort to do so, or get lost. Every time I've driven the Model 3 the past few months I've felt like a passenger. Time to up my game. Principles can be expensive. So be it.

 

[R.S]

Tesla Model 3 owner here.

I recently sold half my BRK-B and bought TSLA. Might sell the rest of the BRK-B and repeat.

Now I'd like to assign Elon Musk as my proxy in all votes. I've emailed investor relations, hopefully they'll respond.

Has anyone else done this? How many proxy shares would he need to harass the SEC's two additional board members into oblivion? I don't think I can afford that many, but it's an entertaining thought

Since someone is bound to ask 'why': As an engineer, I've lost all respect for the MBA short-term profit mentality and the stock market hit-men and leeches of the world. Either create or enhance capability, support the effort to do so, or get lost. Every time I've driven the Model 3 the past few months I've felt like a passenger. Time to up my game. Principles can be expensive. So be it.

So that’s why you want to give voting power? You know that the additional board members are coming to prevent his super short (how fitting) sighted tweets!

You are complaining about MBAs thinking about the next quarter? That’s at least more than a day!

It’s also not the SECs directors, they will be choosen by Tesla’s investors. The only thing is they should not be Elon Musks relatives, pets, or drinking buddies. I know, totally unfair, right? Why doesn’t someone sue the Mafia, they put their family members in important positions, too. Typical anti Musk bias...

 

[ggr]

Tesla Model 3 owner here.

I recently sold half my BRK-B and bought TSLA. Might sell the rest of the BRK-B and repeat.

Now I'd like to assign Elon Musk as my proxy in all votes. I've emailed investor relations, hopefully they'll respond.

Has anyone else done this? How many proxy shares would he need to harass the SEC's two additional board members into oblivion? I don't think I can afford that many, but it's an entertaining thought

Since someone is bound to ask 'why': As an engineer, I've lost all respect for the MBA short-term profit mentality and the stock market hit-men and leeches of the world. Either create or enhance capability, support the effort to do so, or get lost. Every time I've driven the Model 3 the past few months I've felt like a passenger. Time to up my game. Principles can be expensive. So be it.

I think you misunderstand how board votes work. You, as a shareholder, only get to assign proxies for votes at membership (annual or special) meetings. You can't do this permanently, you have to do it for each meeting.

For votes of the board, the board members' votes count equally. The members of the board bear in mind how much shareholder backing each member might have, but 5 out of 9 is a majority no matter what. It's like government elections, if you (shareholder) don't like the outcome, you get to vote them out, but that's it.

 

[SkyCaptain04T]

So that’s why you want to give voting power? You know that the additional board members are coming to prevent his super short (how fitting) sighted tweets!

You are complaining about MBAs thinking about the next quarter? That’s at least more than a day!

It’s also not the SECs directors, they will be choosen by Tesla’s investors. The only thing is they should not be Elon Musks relatives, pets, or drinking buddies. I know, totally unfair, right? Why doesn’t someone sue the Mafia, they put their family members in important positions, too. Typical anti Musk bias...

I am complaining about the culture of the MBA mentality in the US as short-sighted profit taking. This complaint is not directed at Tesla. Tesla has been creating and enhancing capability, bringing new products and services to market, thus they are not the target of my complaint.

By controlling more voting shares in Tesla, Elon will have a greater say in board selections and other matters.

The SEC is trying to dilute his control on the company. I'm trying to give it back.

 

[SkyCaptain04T]

I think you misunderstand how board votes work. You, as a shareholder, only get to assign proxies for votes at membership (annual or special) meetings. You can't do this permanently, you have to do it for each meeting.

Yes, I understand this. I'd simply like to assign Elon as my proxy for each meeting. It's just a bit of paperwork. Since I'm a new shareholder, I'm curious how Tesla assigns proxies. What is their process?

 

[HankLloydRight]

I am complaining about the culture of the MBA mentality in the US

Please don't lump or generalize the "MBA mentality". What you talk about should be more properly accredited to "Wall Street mentality". There are many more MBAs not on Wall Street than are. And you don't need an MBA to work on Wall Street. More people on Wall Street don't have MBAs than do.

Also giving Elon Musk more control is not the answer. His off-the-rails antics have destroyed more shareholder value in one month than the short-sellers ever have with their fake news and slam news stories. He (currently) is TSLA's worst enemy until he learns to just keep his damn mouth shut and get back to building cars and launching rockets.

 

[SkyCaptain04T]

Please don't lump or generalize the "MBA mentality". What you talk about should be more properly accredited to "Wall Street mentality". There are many more MBAs not on Wall Street than are. And you don't need an MBA to work on Wall Street. More people on Wall Street don't have MBAs than do.

No, I mean specifically the mentality of organizations and companies driven by the modern paradigm of the MBA. At least MBAs have been brainwashed into thinking they are useful. The "Wall Street Mentality" is a different beast.

Driven off the Road by M.B.A.s

Also giving Elon Musk more control is not the answer. His off-the-rails antics have destroyed more shareholder value in one month than the short-sellers ever have with their fake news and slam news stories. He (currently) is TSLA's worst enemy until he learns to just keep his damn mouth shut and get back to building cars and launching rockets.

That would be great advice for Elon if he were motivated to be your little profit making bitch, but he's not, nor does he want to be. Thus, it may be very hard, maybe even inappropriate, for him to continue dealing with a public company - being milked for profits by a thousands groping hands. His passion and gift is creating new capability on an enterprise level.

Elon's antics have not changed Tesla's ability to manufacture cars. They're just words, just like the shorts "fake news and slam news stories". Elon has not been making decisions or enacting policies that damage Tesla's core mission. Nobody sees or expects an Edsel or Pinto from Tesla.

It's a double standard to let the greed-driven leeching shorts run wild, then punish Elon for tweeting a potentially insincere yet plausible "Am considering...". We all know that had he left off the "funding secured" part, it would have simply been a bad joke. He's never been much for public speaking in any forum, which for engineers and technologists, is endearing, bad jokes included. And while short selling is legal, it was also legal for my Roman ancestors to buy and sell my Germanic ancestors as slaves. Some institutions are just messed up.

Wall Street capitalizes on greed and fear by playing on the madness of crowds by using popular delusions. Greed and fear are not why I'm a Tesla investor. I want to see what an unhindered Elon Musk would do to the next industry he tackles. So yes, I would (or will) give Musk more control. My money might vanish, it might double. The gamble should be the same regardless of ones motives, but in the case of the shorts, they want to stack the odds in their favor using a collection of deficient institutions: anonymity, free speech, libel, legalized gambling... call it what you will.

The right thing for Elon Musk, personally, might be to actually take the company private, or simply quit and work on private ventures. Maybe he'll come up with a replacement for the SEC and Wall Street. Whatever he decides to do, I wish him well.

 

[HankLloydRight]

That would be great advice for Elon if he were motivated to be your little profit making bitch, but he's not, nor does he want to be. Thus, it may be very hard, maybe even inappropriate, for him to continue dealing with a public company - being milked for profits by a thousands groping hands. His passion and gift is creating new capability on an enterprise level.

Elon's antics have not changed Tesla's ability to manufacture cars. They're just words, just like the shorts "fake news and slam news stories". Elon has not been making decisions or enacting policies that damage Tesla's core mission. Nobody sees or expects an Edsel or Pinto from Tesla.

It's a double standard to let the greed-driven leeching shorts run wild, then punish Elon for tweeting a potentially insincere yet plausible "Am considering...". We all know that had he left off the "funding secured" part, it would have simply been a bad joke. He's never been much for public speaking in any forum, which for engineers and technologists, is endearing, bad jokes included. And while short selling is legal, it was also legal for my Roman ancestors to buy and sell my Germanic ancestors as slaves. Some institutions are just messed up.

Sorry, but we all live in a world with a set of accepted rules. You can't pick and choose which rules you want to follow. Neither can Elon. He's brilliant, and knows the rules. He intentionally chose to break them, and people are suffering the consequences. He doesn't get a pass for that just for being Elon. The fanboism on this is off the charts.

As CEO and ex-chariman of a public company, he is absolutely every shareholder's profit making bitch. Sorry, but it's true. That's the job he accepted when he took Tesla public and stayed on as CEO and Chairman. If he didn't want to be a profit making bitch, then he should have resigned.

But what you seem to be leaving out of the equation is that by going public and raising those funds from the shareholders and bondholders allowed him to build Tesla up to what it is today. Without it, there would be no Tesla. So you can't have it both ways. Tesla needed that funding to get on the track to be a PROFIT MAKING COMPANY. So yeah, that's the world Elon has to deal with now. And he doesn't have to be a freaking crybaby about it, he can grow up and play by the same rules as everyone else. Or he can take his ball and go home and let adults run the company.

 

[SkyCaptain04T]

... As CEO and ex-chariman of a public company, he is absolutely every shareholder's profit making bitch. Sorry, but it's true. That's the job he accepted when he took Tesla public and stayed on as CEO and Chairman. If he didn't want to be a profit making bitch, then he should have resigned.

But what you seem to be leaving out of the equation is that by going public and raising those funds from the shareholders and bondholders allowed him to build Tesla up to what it is today. Without it, there would be no Tesla. So you can't have it both ways. Tesla needed that funding to get on the track to be a PROFIT MAKING COMPANY. So yeah, that's the world Elon has to deal with now. And he doesn't have to be a freaking crybaby about it, he can grow up and play by the same rules as everyone else. Or he can take his ball and go home and let adults run the company.

I think there are a class of shareholders who differentiate short term monetary gain from the long term creation of new capability and new markets - different ways of looking at and assessing profit. Tesla, and Wall Street in general, has too few of these investors, but we do exist. And I do think it can be both ways, and so does Elon, when he told short term investors and day traders that they should invest elsewhere. I Increased my stake in the company when he said this. He was absolutely right then and he should continue to harass predatory short-sellers to the full extent that he can afford. And ultimately, if he is able, he should acquire enough shares to take the company private.

And I agree, the best thing for Elon might simply be to resign from Tesla and walk away. The 'adults' that inherit it will leave it a gutted mess within a decade, despite the best efforts of the Tesla team currently in place.

 

[Kichwas]

Please don't lump or generalize the "MBA mentality". What you talk about should be more properly accredited to "Wall Street mentality". There are many more MBAs not on Wall Street than are. And you don't need an MBA to work on Wall Street. More people on Wall Street don't have MBAs than do.

But he’s right. Modern capitalism is a culture of reaping money out of industry, labor AND management for the extreme benefit of a small select set of elites. Wall Street exists for the sole purpose of bleeding the planet dry. I find it almost “prophetic” that they use a golden bull for their “religious icon”...


Socialism might be an overreaction but I can certainly understand why they want to swing the pendulum the other way...


The MBA culture is tought to destroy everything in it’s path in the pursuit of wealth for the client.


We need balance to return to capital... or those socialists will eventually swing the pendulum all the way to the other extreme...

We really need to regulate away the idea that a CEO has ANY responsibility to shareholders. If I offer to help you cross the street I shouldn’t become your slavemaster.

CEOs should be responsible to their company’s interests, their labor, their customers, and their communities. End stop.
- Capitalism’s failing is in removing all of those an letting outsiders get control just because they loaned some money... but had no part in the effort... And that failing is why we keep suffering waves of resentment from the more deserving public that put in the actual effort of being a society.

 

[HankLloydRight]

The MBA culture is taught to destroy everything in it’s path in the pursuit of wealth for the client.

This is absolutely not true, and is something only non-MBAs will say. It's just too easy to use "MBAs" as a scapegoat disguised as ignorance (or possibly envy).

Again, I say it's the 'wall street culture' not 'MBA culture'. There are hundreds of different master of business administration degree disciplines that are wholly unrelated to maximizing profit and destroying everything in the pursuit of wealth. And I'm one of them, from possibly the most malingend business school out there.

It's simply an ignorant thing to assert.