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Elon Musk wants more control of Tesla so activist investors can’t boot him—but not so much the board can’t fire him if he goes ‘crazy’

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk just confessed that he thinks his 13% ownership stake in the electric vehicle manufacturer leaves him vulnerable to activist shareholders who could move to oust him from the $1 trillion company. Still, he admitted he shouldn’t have so much control over Tesla that the board can’t fire him if he goes “crazy,” he said during an earnings call on Wednesday. 

“It is a big deal—I don’t want to find I have so little control I can be easily ousted by activist shareholders,” Musk said. “That is a major concern to me as I’ve mentioned in the past and I hope that is addressed at the upcoming shareholders meeting.”

Musk owns 13% of Tesla, a stake currently valued around $139 billion. He has previously stated he wants to own 25% of the electric vehicle manufacturer as it further expands into AI with unassisted Full Self Driving and robotics. Such a stake would be worth about $267.5 billion and would eclipse holdings by large institutional investors in Tesla such as Vanguard and Blackrock. Musk has worried in the past about the influence of activist investors or proxy advisory firms steering Tesla down the wrong long-term path at the expense of short-term pressures. 

However, Tesla currently maintains a defensive position against activists. Its bylaws call for what is termed a supermajority vote requirement, meaning shareholder votes must achieve support from two thirds of all outstanding shares (66.67%) rather than a simple 50% majority in order to pass. The board committed last year to Tesla shareholders that it would eliminate the supermajority vote requirement, but it hasn’t been able to muster enough investor participation. 

Tesla amended its bylaws in 2023 to provide shareholders with proxy access rights, meaning a shareholder or group of shareholders owning 3% or more of Tesla for at least three years can nominate directors to Tesla’s board. A stake that size would be valued at more than $20 billion. Securities and Exchange Commission rules require activist investors to disclose their stakes in company stock once they reach 5%, which is also the point where an activist can typically gain credibility with the board. A 5% stake in Tesla is worth more than $30 billion. In comparison, legendary activist investor Nelson Peltz took on the Walt Disney board after building a stake valued at about $3.5 billion at its peak. Activist investors often typically target small-cap publicly traded companies

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Musk shared his view on his ownership stake in response to an analyst’s question about how comfortable the CEO was in evolving Tesla in new directions with only the 13% stake. Musk pointed the annual shareholder meeting, which will be held November 6, as a potential issue to get aired out then. 

“I think that, as I’ve mentioned before, I think my control over Tesla should be enough to ensure that it goes in a good direction, but not so much control that I can’t be thrown out if I go crazy,” he said. 

Musk has been working without a base salary or annual bonus for years, after the Tesla board granted him a moonshot pay package once valued as high as $56 billion—the highest for a publicly traded CEO. However, that pay package was twice rescinded by a judge and Tesla has announced it formed a board committee to hash out next steps. With the delay in Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, the company has not yet published a proxy report to shareholders, which typically includes executive compensation disclosures. 

Tesla reported mixed results in its second quarter financials on Wednesday. Revenue declined 12% year-over-year to $22.5 billion, its worst revenue performance in the past decade. Operating income dropped 42% year-over-year to under $1 billion, although Tesla was still profitable with $1.2 billion in GAAP net income. Meanwhile, free cash flow cratered 89% year-over-year to $146 million, compared to $1.3 billion during the same quarter last year. 

Deliveries were down 13% to 384,122, although there were some major developments noted. 

Tesla launched its much-ballyhooed Robotaxi pilot in Austin, and it boosted its AI training capacity. Separately, Tesla opened a new diner and drive-in theater at a mega charging station in Hollywood this week. 

Tesla executives did not address speculation about a Tesla investment in Musk’s xAI, nor did they address questions from retail investors about Musk’s involvement in politics and its impact on Tesla’s value.

Retail investors post questions on an open platform for Tesla shareholders called Say in advance of the earnings releases. Many related to Musk had to do with his compensation and the board’s plan to oversee Musk’s future political moves. 

“Elon the person has freedom of speech,” wrote one shareholder representing 47,000 shares. “The brand ambassador of Tesla does not. What is the board doing to distance Tesla from the private actions of its CEO?”





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National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

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The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.



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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.” 

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

Read More: Trump’s National Security Strategy Veers Inward in Telling Shift

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway. 

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies. 

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”



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Hegseth likens strikes on alleged drug boats to post-9/11 war on terror

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended strikes on alleged drug cartel boats during remarks Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, saying President Donald Trump has the power to take military action “as he sees fit” to defend the nation.

Hegseth dismissed criticism of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people and now face intense scrutiny over concerns that they violated international law. Saying the strikes are justified to protect Americans, Hegseth likened the fight to the war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it,” Hegseth said during his keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.”

The most recent strike brings the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. Lawmakers have sought more answers about the attacks and their legal justification, and whether U.S. forces were ordered to launch a follow-up strike following a September attack even after the Pentagon knew of survivors.

Though Hegseth compared the alleged drug smugglers to Al-Qaida terrorists, experts have noted significant differences between the two foes and the efforts to combat them.

Hegseth’s remarks came after the Trump administration released its new national security strategy, one that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

During the speech, Hegseth also discussed the need to check China’s rise through strength instead of conflict. He repeated Trump’s vow to resume nuclear testing on an equal basis as China and Russia — a goal that has alarmed many nuclear arms experts. China and Russia haven’t conducted explosive tests in decades, though the Kremlin said it would follow the U.S. if Trump restarted tests.

The speech was delivered at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in California, an event which brings together top national security experts from around the country. Hegseth used the visit to argue that Trump is Reagan’s “true and rightful heir” when it comes to muscular foreign policy.

By contrast, Hegseth criticized Republican leaders in the years since Reagan for supporting wars in the Middle East and democracy-building efforts that didn’t work. He also blasted those who have argued that climate change poses serious challenges to military readiness.

“The war department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing and feckless nation building,” he said.



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