Tesla founder Elon Musk turned down a dinner invite from the boss of Norway’s largest sovereign wealth fund after the agency voted towards his large pay package deal — telling the snubbed Scandinavian that “buddies are as buddies do.”
Nicolai Tangen — the CEO of the $1.7 trillion wealth fund Norges Financial institution Funding Administration — had invited the tech titan to affix him for dinner at his residence in Oslo in October.
Months earlier, Norges, one among Tesla’s 10 largest traders, had struck down a $56 billion pay deal for Musk that might now be valued at round $100 billion after Tesla’s inventory soared final yr.
Musk was fast to notice his disappointment with Tangen’s determination.
“Once I ask you for a favor which I very hardly ever do, and also you decline, then you shouldn’t ask me for one till you’ve executed one thing above nothing to make amends,” Musk wrote through textual content, based on messages the agency supplied to Enterprise Insider.
“Associates are as buddies do.”
Tangen had hoped Musk would be a part of executives from Ferrari, Nestlé, Adidas, DoorDash and Novo Nordisk on the dinner forward of the fund’s annual traders convention in April.
Norges owned a 0.95% stake value $6 billion within the carmaker as of June, based on the fund’s newest obtainable information.
Tangen stated he understood and wished Musk luck, including that they had been cheering him on as a shareholder.
The textual content messages had been first printed by E24, a Norwegian newspaper, after the agency launched them below Norway’s expansive freedom of knowledge legal guidelines.
A couple of days after rejecting the dinner invite, Musk requested Tangen whether or not he had given their messages to the media.
Musk forwarded him a textual content trade with one other unnamed one that claimed Tangen leaked the correspondence to “promote himself” as a consequence of “political ambitions.”
Tangen advised Musk that every little thing he sends and receives is public data below Norway’s transparency legal guidelines.
The fund supervisor additionally stated Musk’s “private feedback” weren’t launched, solely his remarks about not attending the convention.
“This nation is obsessed about you, however this isn’t reflecting badly on you. Nonetheless, sorry for any inconvenience,” Tangen stated.
A consultant for Musk didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A Delaware Choose Kathleen McCormick rejected Musk’s $56 billion compensation deal early final yr, and once more in December.
NBIM, although, voted towards the pay package deal, citing considerations “in regards to the complete dimension of the award, the construction given efficiency triggers, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key particular person danger.”
Greater than 70% of Tesla shareholders voted in favor of the pay deal final June throughout Tesla’s annual traders assembly.
Musk has slammed McCormick’s ruling as “completely loopy” and referred to as her an “activist posing as a choose.”