The race to be the biggest electric vehicle manufacturer continues, and while the Chinese-based BYD takes the crown, Tesla is the biggest in the USA.
As we've seen the once gas-guzzling Jaguar vow to go all-electric, it looks like people are finally taking the EV industry seriously.
Tesla continues to innovate, and although Elon Musk knocked a jaw-dropping $15 billion off his net worth with the disappointing October 2024 reveal of the Tesla Cybercab and Robovan, its stock has climbed over the years.
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Although navigating the stock market is never easy, Bloomberg reports that Europe’s largest pension fund sold its whopping €571 million ($585 million) stake in Tesla Inc. in 2024. The sordid saga stems back to an incident in 2018 when Tesla shareholders approved a record-breaking pay packet for Mr. Musk. Back then, Musk was posed to receive a lucrative pay packet that would allow him to buy a maximum of 304 shares at just $23.34.
Tesla has been on an upward trajectory, with it hitting an all-time stock price of $479.86 on December 17, 2024. They've dipped slightly since then, but at the time of writing, Tesla shares are still worth an impressive $396.
A spokesperson for Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP said, "We had a problem," when referring to Musk’s pay package. It apparently considered costs, return, and its own responsible investment requirements before it made the decision to sell.
When it comes to Musk's withheld pay package, one shareholder sued Tesla and Musk in 2018, claiming that Musk has influenced the board - especially his brother, Kimbal Musk. Jumping forward to January 2024, a Delaware judge sided with the shareholder and struck down Musk's compensation package. Although the compensation originally started at just $2.6 billion, it ballooned to $56 billion by the time the judge ruled.
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In December 2024, it was withheld a second time, with Kathaleen St. J. McCormick saying the Tesla board was 'influenced' by Musk. She said the agreement was "beyond the bounds of reasonable judgment."
The case rumbles on, while Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP selling its massive share is another sting.
Still, with Tesla being worth around $1.27 trillion and its stock rising by 74% in the past year, it's not exactly struggling.
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Some might think that Musk's new political allegiance with Donald Trump could have something to do with the stock sales, although a Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP spokesperson told Fortune this isn't the case. The company's portfolio apparently shifted before October, which is when Musk noticeably threw his significant social media weight behind European politics and aligned further with similar values to Trump.
Despite $585 million being a massive amount, it only represented around one-tenth of ABP's total investment in U.S. megacorps. In contrast, the European fund had around €5.6 billion invested in Nvidia at the end of September, €6.0 billion in Microsoft, and €6.3 billion in Apple.
As for Musk's pay packet, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP reiterated to Fortune, "This is by no means the only reason," it sold its shares.