Tesla receives multiple shareholder proposals related to investment in Xai

(Reuters) – Tesla said on Friday it received numerous shareholder proposals on the company’s plan to invest in CEO Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup Xai.

Musk ruled out the Tesla-Zai merger in early July, but said he plans to hold a shareholder vote on automakers’ investments in startups.

The proposal comes amidst Xai’s large fundraising efforts this year. The startup completed a $5 billion debt hike last month along with a $5 billion strategic equity investment.

Musk is pursuing a consolidation strategy throughout his business empire, with Xai gaining the chatbot training capabilities to enhance chatbot training capabilities for $33 billion in March, integrating GROK chatbots into Tesla vehicles.

The potential investment debate has affected demand for electric vehicles as Tesla faces a variety of challenges, including mask political activity, causing a 22% decline in stock this year.

“Shareholders are welcome to submit the shareholder proposal they want,” Musk said Wednesday in Tesla’s quarterly revenue call.

Tesla, which will hold its annual shareholders meeting on November 6th, said it would include only one proposal for each topic in accordance with SEC regulations.

Earlier this month, the board set a deadline on July 31 to include the deadline for submitting a power of attorney proposal.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram of Bengaluru, edited by Devika Syamnath and Anil D’Silva)