SpaceX after IPO: Only Elon Musk can fire Elon Musk
SpaceX is also introducing different types of shares for its IPO. However, it is new that the current CEO can only formally dismiss himself.
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When the space, AI and social media company SpaceX likely completes its IPO in the summer, CEO Elon Musk can only dismiss himself; the board of directors is no longer authorized to do so. This is reported by the news agency Reuters, citing further documents that the company has sent to potential investors. According to these, SpaceX will have two different types of shares, and only with a majority of Class B shares can the CEO be removed from his post. However, he will hold a majority of these after issuance, and as long as he doesn't sell them, he effectively cannot be fired.
Warning from SpaceX
Reuters points out that resorting to two different classes of shares is no longer unusual. This approach was popularized by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others, who has secured his control over the social media group with his majority of shares with ten times the voting rights. But normally, the board retains at least the nominal power to dismiss a CEO. SpaceX is therefore now warning potential investors that the measure would “limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors.”
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The documents that Reuters is now citing were prepared by SpaceX for the IPO, which is set to be historic. It is assumed that the group will be valued at around two trillion US dollars, which would be the largest in history. SpaceX has taken over xAI for this purpose; the AI company also belongs to Elon Musk. It includes the controversial chatbot Grok and the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. Recently, some adventurous aspects of the IPO have become public, especially a compensation package for Elon Musk, which was tied to the establishment of a colony on Mars with one million inhabitants. In addition, SpaceX claims that the market for its products would correspond to a quarter of the global gross domestic product.
(mho)
