Elon Musk sold off part of his stake in Tesla to buy the company formerly known as Twitter—and he wants to get it all back, plus more. In a post on X Monday, the Tesla CEO said that without a compensation plan that gives him around 25% of the company's stock, around double his current holding, he might choose to create robotics and artificial intelligence products elsewhere, CNN reports. "I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control," Musk wrote. "Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can't be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla."
Musk owned more than 20% of Tesla's shares before his sell-off. The New York Times reports that "investors were stunned" by Musk's demand for another 12% of the company, which would be worth around $83 billion at current prices, outweighing Musk's losses on the Twitter deal. In another post on X, Musk said that if his stake in the company is too low, "the for/against ratio to override me makes a takeover by dubious interests too easy." Ben Rose, president of Battle Road Research, tells the Times that market conditions in the electric vehicle industry make Musk's demand seem "curious and ill-timed."
Musk, the richest person on the planet, also said there was no "feud" with Tesla's board over his compensation package, reports the Guardian. He said he doesn't currently have a compensation plan because a shareholder lawsuit over his $56 billion compensation package in 2018, the largest in history, is still making its way through the courts. (More Elon Musk stories.)