Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm has sold over $50 million worth of stock in 2024

Tesla
Chairwoman
Robyn
Denholm
has
just
sold
$17.3
million
worth
of
her
shares
in
the
electric
vehicle
maker,

according
to
a
filing
Monday,
bringing
her
total
stock
sales
this
year
to
more
than
$50
million.

Denholm,
who
joined
Tesla’s
board
as
an
independent
director
in
2014
and
became
chair
four
years
later,
sold
the
shares
as
part
of
what’s
called
a
10b5-1
program
put
into
place
in
October.
She
has
now
sold
all
of
the
281,116
shares
allowed
in
the
agreement.

While
Denholm
still
has
the
vast
majority
of
the
1.66
million
shares
she
owned
as
of
the
end
of
last
year,
according
to
the

company’s
proxy
filing,
her
stock
sales
follow
hefty
selling
from
other
big
stakeholders.
Former
Tesla
Senior
Vice
President
Drew
Baglino,
who
announced
his
resignation
in
mid-April,

sold
shares
worth
around
$181.5
million
soon
after
his
departure,
according
to
a
filing.

Another
Tesla
board
member,
Kathleen
Wilson-Thompson,
set
up
a
10b5-1
trading
plan
in
February
2024,
for
the
potential
sale
of
up
to
280,000
shares
by
or
before
Feb.
28,
2025.

Tesla
shares
are
down
26%
this
year,
closing
Monday
at
$184.76.
The
slide
comes
as
the
company
faces
increased
competition,
weakened
demand
for
its
EVs
and
a
drop
in
first-quarter
deliveries.

CEO

Elon
Musk
has
tried
to
focus
investors’
attention
on
the
company’s
self-driving
future
instead
of
its
core
automotive
business.
He
told
investors
on
Tesla’s
earnings
call
last
month
that
those
who
doubt
the
company’s
ability
to
deliver
self-driving
vehicles

should
stay
away
from
the
stock.
For
years,
Tesla
has
been
working
to
develop,
but
hasn’t
brought
to
market,
software
that
will
make
its
existing
cars
autonomous,
a
dedicated
robotaxi
and
humanoid
robots
capable
of
factory
work.

“If
somebody
doesn’t
believe Tesla’s
going
to
solve
autonomy,
I
think
they
should
not
be
an
investor
in
the
company,”
Musk
said
on
the
call.

In
Denholm’s
early
years
on
the
Tesla
board,
she
served
on
the
audit
committee.
She
eventually

replaced
Musk
as
chair
in
November
2018,
after
the
company
struck
an
agreement
with
the
SEC
to
settle
civil
securities
fraud
charges
requiring
Musk
to
relinquish
that
role
temporarily,
among
other
provisions.

The

SEC
had
charged
Musk
and
Tesla
with
securities
fraud
after
Musk
said,
in
a
series
of
tweets
in
2018
that
he
was
considering
taking
the
company
private
at
$420
per
share
with “funding
secured.”
The
tweets
led
to
a
stretch
of
volatility
in
Tesla
shares.

Before
joining
the
Tesla
board,
Denholm
served
in
executive
roles
at
Sun
Microsystems,
and
in
finance
roles
at
Toyota
in
Australia
and
at
accounting
firm
Arthur
Andersen.
Denholm
is
currently
part
of
Tesla’s
audit,
compensation,
nominating
and
corporate
governance,
and
disclosure
controls
committees.

Denholm,
who
didn’t
respond
to
a
request
for
comment,
is
a
named
defendant
in
a
shareholder
lawsuit
—
Tornetta
vs.
Musk
—
that
was
decided
in
January.
The
judge
in
the
Delaware
case
ruled
that
Tesla’s
2018
CEO
pay
plan,
which
was
the
largest
in
public
corporate
history,
was
only
allowed
by
a
board
that
was “beholden
to
Musk,”
and
should
be
rescinded.

In
her
opinion,
Chancellor
Kathaleen
McCormick
wrote
that
by
serving
on
Tesla’s
board,
Denholm
received “life-changing”
compensation,
which “far
exceeded
the
compensation
she
received
from
other
sources.”

Denholm’s
latest
stock
sales
coincide
with
struggles
at
Tesla
and
a
broad
restructuring
effort
that’s
included
thousands
of
layoffs.

Demand
for
Tesla’s
EVs
slumped
in
the
first
quarter,
and
inventory
levels
have
visibly
swelled.

Revenue
in
the
period
fell
9%
from
a
year
earlier,
the
steepest
drop
since
2012,
while
net
income
plunged
55%.

Musk
said
in
an
internal
memo
in
April
that
Tesla
was cutting more
than
10%
of
its
global
headcount.
He
didn’t
say
which
departments
or
locations
would
be
most
affected.
In
the
earnings
call,
he
referred
to
the
restructuring
as
a “pruning
exercise”
and
added, “We’re
not
giving
up
anything
that
is
significant
that
I’m
aware
of.”
He
said
that
if
the
company
organizationally
is “5%
wrong
per
year,”
its
cumulative
inefficiency
comes
out
to
25%
or
30%.

Denholm
and
Musk
are
currently
trying
to
convince
shareholders
to
vote
with
directors
and
executives
at
Tesla
on
a
number
of
proxy
proposals.

The
most
material
proposal
asks
shareholders
to
return
to
Musk
his
compensation
package
that
was
invalidated
by
the
Delaware
Chancery
Court
in
the
Tornetta
decision.
The
pay
package
would
be
worth
tens
of
billions
of
dollars
in
Tesla
shares
to
Musk.

Tesla’s
largest
individual
retail
shareholder,
tech
billionaire
Leo
Koguan,
has
repeatedly
called
for
investors
to
vote
against
the
plan.
In
a
post
on
X,
Koguan

recently
wrote, “Don’t
be
a
sucker,
just
vote
NO.”