Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s $56bn (£44bn) pay package.

The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms.

Onstage at the annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, the billionaire described himself as “pathologically optimistic”.

“If I wasn’t optimistic this wouldn’t exist, this factory wouldn’t exist,” Musk said to resounding applause.

“But I do deliver in the end. That’s the important thing.”

The approval does not, however, resolve a lawsuit on the pay package in a Delaware court, which some legal experts believe could last months.

The judge invalidated it in January, describing it as “unfathomable”.

Elon Musk cannot keep $55bn Tesla pay package, judge rules

Joe Biden marks 49 years since car crash that killed his first wife and infant daughter

Storm Fay makes landfall on US east coast

Musk may also face fresh lawsuits on the deal, which would be the largest in American corporate history.

Shareholders had first approved the bumper pay packet in 2018.

“This thing is not over,” said Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School.

The Delaware judge will scrutinise the vote and require Tesla to prove the process was not coerced or improperly influenced by Musk, Professor Quinn said.

The judge had criticised Tesla’s board fore being “beholden” to Musk, saying the plan was proposed by a “conflicted board” with “close personal and financial ties” to its top executive.

Shareholders also approved a proposal to move the company’s legal home to Texas from Delaware.

Read more from business:
House prices ‘rebound’
Britons put record amounts into ISAs
Boeing blocked from increasing production

They also backed other proposals, including the re-election of two board members, Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Shareholders did increase the level of investor control by passing proposals in favour of shortening board terms to one year and lowering voting requirements for proposals to a simple majority, despite board opposition to both.

Tesla did not disclose the voting tallies, which are expected to be revealed in coming days.

At least a half-million viewers watched the meeting on the livestream on X, which Musk also owns, and about 40,000 watched on YouTube.

Tesla’s share price has dropped about 55% from its 2021 peak as electric vehicle sales have slowed.

The stock closed up 2.9% on Thursday.

Related posts:

UK-based sports data firm chooses Wall Street for $1.5bn stock market debut The ranks of the ‘economically inactive’ are needed if worker shortage is to ease Zahawi backs taskforce to aid London market’s global listings drive BP quarterly profits of £7.1bn fan flames around stiffer windfall taxes Which supermarket is cheapest to buy your Christmas dinner? Consumer confidence, post-Brexit trade and Easter eggs Bluesky: What you need to know about the invite-only Twitter alternative EV leasing group Onto up for sale after L&G pulls backing Airfare rises, tech earnings and fantasy fiction boom Digital bank Monzo in talks to sell new £300m stake The Bank of England is preparing the ground for lower interest rates Saga sets post-Easter deadline for cruise operation suitors