Tesla held its annual shareholder meeting, which the company now calls its Cyber Roundup, on Thursday at the Tesla Gigafactory Texas.
The Cyber Roundup comes just a few weeks after that Tesla reported its earnings for the second quartershowing quarterly revenue declines caused by manufacturing challenges even as the company grew year-over-year.
The agenda was there 13 shareholder proposalsincluding one for a three-for-one stock split that appears to have helped Tesla shares rise 0.40%.
There were also several proposals aimed at making Tesla more ethically responsible, especially after a series of lawsuits who accused the company of sexual, racial and gender harassment in the workplace.
Here are the five key takeaways from the event.
The stock split has been approved
Tesla shareholders approved a three-for-one stock split that will lower the company’s stock to the $300 range. However, it is not clear when it will come into effect.
Tesla always understands how it uses Twitter to initially influence its stock price tweeted the news of the shareholder proposal on March 28. Between then and now, Tesla shares have rallied 20% since their June lows when the drama over Musk’s proposed purchase of Twitter was at its peak. Shares rose in after-hours trading Thursday to $928.55.
Ethical improvements are unlikely to pass
Shareholders called for better reporting and transparency in reporting sexual, racial and gender-based harassment, as well as Tesla’s lobbying activities and the use of child labor to extract battery materials. They also asked for more diversity on the board to reflect Tesla’s workforce.
While voting has not yet concluded, preliminary results indicate that Tesla shareholders have voted against all such proposals.
IRL trolling
The 2022 shareholder meeting, the first in several years where hundreds of people were able to gather in person, took on a raucous tone from the start.
Investors in attendance shouted encouragement and questions to Musk. They also took their role as Tesla accelerators to a new level. At one point, the crowd laughed at Laura Campos, director of corporate and political accountability at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, as she talked about her proposal to improve Tesla’s lobbying disclosures, and cheered Tesla’s head of investor relations, Martin Viecha, when he cut her off as her time ran out. Sister Dorothy of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd was treated to similar derision – the audience laughed and clapped when her time was up as she pleaded with the company to improve its reporting of child labor in its cobalt supply chain.
Musk welcomed cheers, cheers and cheers, poking fun at his biggest supporters — retail investors. He worked the crowd as he usually does, telling the audience that he loves them and that they are “the best crowd”, exclaiming statements of greatness and making jokes about his failed purchase on Twitter.
More gigafactories
Musk has teased the idea of another gigafactory to be selected later this year. He also noted that Tesla will likely build “at least 10 or 12 gigafactories.” Back in 2017, Musk said that in the long term the company would build between 10 and 20 gigafactories.
Demand continues to be high for Teslas, so it’s no wonder Musk wants to expand the automaker’s factory footprint. Tesla made its 3 millionth car in the past few weeks, Musk said, confirming the company’s goal of reaching 2 million cars by the end of 2022.
Other products to take home
“We’re over 40 million miles now, and I suspect we’ll be well over 100 million miles by this year,” Musk said. “And we’re still very much on the lookout for a broad rollout of the FSD beta this year in North America.”
Musk also promised some “cool stuff” regarding Supercharger as Tesla prepares to start allowing non-Tesla EVs to use its charging network.
In addition, Musk hinted that the Cybertruck’s specs and price will be different from what was first announced in 2019 due to inflation, but did not provide further details.