Elon Musk. .
Image: AFP
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From boardroom shakeups and billion-dollar bets to the latest tech breakthroughs rewriting the rules, The Company Brief is your front-row seat to the stories moving markets and mindsets.
We cut through the noise so you can stay ahead of the curve, one bold business move at a time.
Elon Musk's $1 trillion Tesla pay plan wins shareholder approval
Tesla CEO Elon Musk won shareholder approval on Thursday for the largest corporate pay package in history as investors endorsed his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut. The proposal was approved with over 75% support, and Musk bounded to the stage of the company's annual meeting at its factory in Austin, Texas, accompanied by dancing robots. Musk, already the world's richest person, could get as much as $1 trillion in stock over the next decade, although required payments would take the value down to $878 billion.
Malusi Gigaba to hand himself over to police over Transnet corruption case
Former Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba is expected to hand himself over to the police to face charges related to the ongoing investigation into corruption at Transnet. The charges form part of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) efforts to hold former state officials accountable for alleged involvement in the capture of state-owned entities. The Transnet corruption probe centres on irregular contracts and payments worth billions of rand that were unlawfully awarded. Several former executives, including ex-Transnet group CEO Brian Molefe and former CFO Anoj Singh, have already appeared in court facing fraud and corruption charges.
Microsoft launches 'superintelligence' team targeting medical diagnosis to start
Microsoft is forming a new team that wants to build artificial intelligence that is vastly more capable than humans in certain domains, starting with medical diagnostics, the executive leading the effort told Reuters. Called the MAI Superintelligence Team, the project follows similar efforts by Meta Platforms, Safe Superintelligence Inc. and others that have begun targeting technical leaps while garnering scepticism for their ability to deliver, absent new breakthroughs. Microsoft plans to invest "a lot of money" in the project as well, said Mustafa Suleyman, the AI chief in charge.