Musk’s $56 Billion Pay Package Disputed by CalPERS CEO, CNBC Reports

(Reuters) – Marcie Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), is planning to oppose Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package, CNBC reported on Wednesday.

“We don’t believe compensation is commensurate with the company’s performance,” Frost said in an interview with CNBC.

Asked if the pension fund was “misled” when it supported the proposal in 2018, Frost said no. “We used the information we had available and made the best choice.”

CalPERS is among Tesla’s top 30 investors and owns 9.5 million shares, according to LSEG data. The U.S. pension fund did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In a post on X, Musk responded by saying that the US pension fund “broke the agreement”. “What she is saying makes no sense, as all contractual milestones have been met. CalPERS is breaking her word,” he wrote in the post.

Proxy consulting firm Glass Lewis on Saturday urged Tesla shareholders to reject the pay package.

Musk’s salary package, the largest in corporate America, does not include a salary or cash bonus and sets rewards based on increasing Tesla’s market value to as much as $650 billion over the next 10 years starting in 2018.

A Delaware judge rejected the package in January after calling the compensation an “unfathomable amount” that was unfair to shareholders.

Last month, Tesla asked shareholders to reaffirm their approval of Musk’s salary package established in 2018.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Niket Nishant)