Tesla plans 3-way stock split to make its shares affordable

San Francisco: Elon Musk-run Tesla has asked its shareholders to approve a three-way stock split which will make its share more affordable.

Tesla stock has jumped 43.5 per cent since the company’s last stock split in August 2020.

“The primary purpose of the Authorised Shares Amendment is to facilitate a 3-for-1 split of our common stock in the form of a stock dividend,” the company said in a fresh US SEC filing late on Friday.

“As of June 6, 2022, we have 1,036,390,569 shares of common stock outstanding, and the current number of authorised shares of our common stock is 2,000,000,000, which is insufficient to effectuate the Stock Split,” said the electric car-maker.

If the stock split goes into effect, Tesla shareholders would receive two additional shares of common stock on that date.

Tesla also disclosed that Oracle co-founder and CTO Larry Ellison will not be up for re-election to its board of directors.

“In June 2022, Lawrence J. Ellison, a Class III director, determined� that he will not stand for re-election to the Board when his current term ends at the 2022 Annual Meeting,” said the company.

“The Board currently expects to reduce the number of Board seats to seven upon the expiration of Ellison’s term at the 2022 Annual Meeting, and, therefore, votes or proxies may not be submitted for the election of more than two board seats,” it added.

Tesla said that the Stock Split would help reset the market price of its common stock so that “our employees will have more flexibility in managing their equity, all of which, in our view, may help maximise stockholder value”.

While Musk recently said that Tesla would be reducing its salaried headcount by 10 per cent, a Goldman Sachs analyst predicted that the move can provide the company up to $1 billion in annual operating expenses (OPEX) savings — the company’s day-to-day expenses.

In a relief for Tesla shareholders, Elon Musk has committed to provide an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing for his $44 billion Twitter takeover, bringing his total equity commitment to $33.5 billion.