Elon Musk survives challenge to Tesla control

Elon Musk has retained his position on the board of directors at Tesla after facing opposition from an investor during the company’s annual meeting in California yesterday.

The electric car company’s shareholders rejected a proposal to oust the firm’s founder and chief executive from his other role as chairman, the BBC reports.

According to tech site BGR, the proposal was lodged by Jing Zhao, a California resident with just 12 shares in Tesla.

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Zhao’s attempt to eject Musk from his chairman role was backed by CtW Investment Group, an activist firm that represents labour union pension funds. The investment company also called on shareholders to reject the re-election of three Tesla directors, reports ABC News.

The directors in the firing line were Musk’s brother, Kimbal, company senior director Antonio Gracias and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert. CtW Investment Group argued that the trio were not qualified to lead a car manufacturer, the US broadcaster reports.

However, a “supermajority” of shareholders voted in favour of retaining Musk as company chairman and of the re-election of the three directors.

Two-thirds of the company’s investors must give the green light for any changes to occur, says The Daily Telegraph. Musk owns 22% of the firm.

The news will come as a relief to the South African-born billionaire, who came under fire from investors after cutting off analysts’ questions about company finances during a conference call last month, the newspaper says.

Tesla also appears to be making headway on the production of its Model 3 electric car, which has repeatedly missed manufacturing targets since its launch last July.

Musk told the annual meeting that Tesla is now producing 500 examples of the budget EV every day, says The Verge.

That puts the company well on track to hits its key production target of 5,000 cars per month by the end of June, the tech site says.