Norges Bank, which manages over $3 trillion in assets, has exited its position in Tesla during the third quarter, its latest portfolio update with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shown.
The Norwegian bank held 37,272,002 shares in the company by June 30, worth nearly $11.84 billion.
All the shares were acquired during the second quarter, in which the company reopened a position in the company after previously dumping all its stake in the beginning of the year.
Norges Bank, which first entered Tesla with a stake of around 450,000 shares, reported a 1 million-share position by the end of 2018.
Since it went public, Tesla had two stock splits: a 5-for-1 split in August 2020 and a 3-for-1 split in 2022.
They have driven the number of shares of institutional investors (with the stake’s value remaining the same) to new highs over the past three years, making Norges Bank’s position jump from around 1.5 million shares in the second quarter of 2020 to about 26 million in the third quarter of 2022.
In the past three years, this position has risen 42% to a 37-million peak in the April-June period.
As tech continues the sell off, Tesla shares turned negative for the year earlier this Friday.
As of press time, the stock is trading 1.80% lower at $394.
CEO Pay Package
Two days before Tesla‘s Annual Shareholder Meeting on November 6, Norges Bank announced it would vote against CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious compensation plan.
The controversial proposal tied a $1 trillion compensation to Musk if Tesla achieved targets such as a $7.5 trillion market capitalization, the deployment of 1 million robotaxis, and the delivery of 1 million Optimus humanoid robots.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” Norges Bank stated, adding that they remained “consistent with our views on executive compensation.”
The fund manager said it would “continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.”
The company’s shareholders have, in the meantime, approved the plan.
Past Misendeavors
The latest vote wasn’t the first time Norges Bank opposed Musk’s compensation packages.
Last year, the firm voted against reinstating his $56 billion pay deal from 2018.
Musk then rejected an invitation to a dinner in Oslo by the investment fund’s chief, according to a report by the Financial Times, suggesting that relations between the two organizations have since soured.
Although Tesla shareholders voted to reapprove the package in 2024, it is still under review in a Delaware court.
Tesla is currently appealing to the state’s Supreme Court after a lower court rejected the shareholder vote last year that was in favor of restoring it.
