Tesla delays disclosure filing as investors await stock split announcement

Electric vehicle maker Tesla said it needs more time for a regular filing before its annual shareholders’ meeting, delaying the expected disclosure of the company’s plans for a possible stock split, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tesla had a deadline of April 30 to file its shareholder proxy after the end of its 2021 financial year on December 31.

“We currently expect that our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders will be filed later than the 120th day after the end of the last fiscal year,” the company said in the filing.

The Texas-based company has yet to announce the date for its 2022 shareholder meeting. It held the annual meeting in October 2021 and September 2020.

In March, Tesla said it would ask its shareholders at the 2022 annual shareholders’ meeting to vote on another stock split, following one two years ago.

Splitting stocks is a tactic for firms to make it less expensive to buy individual shares. This can attract retail investors who make small trades.

Technology companies Alphabet and Amazon announced splits this year to reduce the price of their shares.

“Tesla will ask shareholders to vote at this year’s annual meeting to authorise additional shares in order to enable a stock split,” the company tweeted.

Shares surged significantly when Tesla announced a five-for-one split in August 2020.

A new stock split could boost the shares of the company that are trading roughly 27 per cent lower compared to January 1.

The Nasdaq-listed company's shares traded at $874.1 each at 7.40pm UAE time on Monday.

Tesla's billionaire chief executive, Elon Musk, who recently struck a deal to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, has sold about $8.5bn worth of Tesla shares in an apparent move to begin funding his buyout of the microblogging platform.

The world's richest person offloaded about 9.6 million shares last week, according to regulatory filings made with the SEC.

Tesla had a strong start to the year, passing the $3bn mark in quarterly net profit for the first time in the January-March period.

The world's most valuable car maker reported that first-quarter net profit rose more than seven times year-on-year to more than $3.3bn, about $2.8bn more than the income earned during the same period in 2021.

Revenue during the period jumped 81 per cent to more than $18.7bn, exceeding analysts’ expectation of $17.8bn.