The vote was seen as a referendum on his management of the electric car maker and on the limits of executive pay.

Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge.

The vote result, announced at Tesla’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, is a strong sign that shareholders still believe in Mr. Musk and it could persuade the judge who voided the award to reinstate it.

Support for the pay plan will come as a relief to Mr. Musk’s admirers, who feared that rejection would prompt him to spend less time managing Tesla or even quit. The vote was a setback for investors who had hoped it would send a message about the accountability of chief executives and the limits of executive pay.

The outcome may also help Mr. Musk qualify as the world’s richest person, worth well over $200 billion.

Tesla shares rose on Thursday ahead of the official announcement of the results after Mr. Musk said on X that the pay plan was passing by a wide margin.

Tesla’s board had called for the vote in response to a ruling by Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Court of Chancery in Delaware, where Tesla is registered as a corporation. In January, Chancellor McCormick agreed with a group of disenchanted Tesla shareholders who contended in a lawsuit that the 2018 pay package was wildly excessive.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.