DETROIT: Tesla shareholders on Thursday approved a three-for-one stock split, a move that will make the company’s shares more accessible to smaller investors.
Preliminary results of the shareholder vote were announced at the electric car and solar panel maker’s annual meeting at its new factory in Austin, Texas.
CEO Elon Musk also discussed at the meeting a major factory expansion in the future as the company moves toward a goal of making 20 million vehicles per year. It now produces around 1.5 million per year.
Musk said Tesla might announce another factory site this year, and it expects to have about a dozen in the future. Currently the company has assembly plants in Fremont, California; Austin; Berlin and Shanghai. Musk joked that many had suggested Canada as a site for the next new plant.
Tesla stock closed Thursday at $925.90, down 12.4 percent so far this year, but it almost completed a split itself, tumbling more than 40 percent by May after Musk made a $44 billion bid to buy Twitter in April.
Investors were worried that Musk would be distracted from Tesla if he purchased the social media platform.
But Musk backed out of the deal in July and Twitter sued him to force him to make the purchase. A trial is scheduled for October in Delaware Chancery Court. Tesla stock began to recover in July, boosted by better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
Tesla announced plans for the split in late March when shares were trading over $1,000. It will not affect Tesla’s overall market value or its status as the world’s most valuable automaker.
Share splits are used by companies when their stock price gets too high for retail investors to buy individual shares, or when a company wants more shares to exist in the marketplace to make the stock more liquid to trade.
Tesla has said it was trying to accomplish both of these goals: giving its employees greater quantities of shares as well as making the stock more accessible to retail investors.
Musk sold some shares of Tesla for the Twitter purchase and had planned on using other shares as collateral.
Shareholders also elected Ira Ehrenpreis and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson to the Tesla board.
Tesla investors approve stock split; Musk sets goal of 20m cars per year
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Tesla investors approve stock split; Musk sets goal of 20m cars per year
- Tesla stock closed Thursday at $925.90, down 12.4 percent so far this year
- Tesla currently produces around 1.5 million per year
Silver crosses $77 mark while gold, platinum stretch record highs
- Spot silver touched an all-time high of $77.40 earlier today, marking a 167% year-to-date surge driven by supply deficits
- Spot platinum rose 9.8% to $2,437.72 per ounce, while palladium surged 14 percent to $1,927.81, its highest level in over 3 years
Silver breached the $77 mark for the first time on Friday, while gold and platinum hit record highs, buoyed by expectations of US Federal Reserve rate cuts and geopolitical tensions that fueled safe-haven demand.
Spot silver jumped 7.5% to $77.30 per ounce, as of 1:53 p.m. ET (1853 GMT), after touching an all-time high of $77.40 earlier today, marking a 167% year-to-date surge driven by supply deficits, its designation as a US critical mineral, and strong investment inflows.
Spot gold was up 1.2% at $4,531.41 per ounce, after hitting a record $4,549.71 earlier. US gold futures for February delivery settled 1.1% higher at $4,552.70.
“Expectations for further Fed easing in 2026, a weak dollar and heightened geopolitical tensions are driving volatility in thin markets. While there is some risk of profit-taking before the year-end, the trend remains strong,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals.
Markets are anticipating two rate cuts in 2026, with the first likely around mid-year amid speculation that US President Donald Trump could name a dovish Fed chair, reinforcing expectations for a more accommodative monetary stance.
The US dollar index was on track for a weekly decline, enhancing the appeal of dollar-priced gold for overseas buyers.
On the geopolitical front, the US carried out airstrikes against Daesh militants in northwest Nigeria, Trump said on Thursday.
“$80 in silver is within reach by year-end. For gold, the next objective is $4,686.61, with $5,000 likely in the first half of next year,” Grant added.
Gold remains poised for its strongest annual gain since 1979, underpinned by Fed policy easing, central bank purchases, ETF inflows, and ongoing de-dollarization trends.
On the physical demand side, gold discounts in India widened to their highest in more than six months this week as a relentless price rally curbed retail buying, while discounts in China narrowed sharply from last week’s five-year highs.
Elsewhere, spot platinum rose 9.8% to $2,437.72 per ounce, having earlier hit a record high of $2,454.12 while palladium surged 14% to $1,927.81, its highest level in more than three years.
All precious metals logged weekly gains, with platinum recording its strongest weekly rise on record.
