Tesla (TSLA) announces 3-for-1 stock split

Tesla (TSLA) announced today that it is going to put a three-for-one stock split to a shareholder vote at its upcoming annual meeting.

The company announced its intentions to do another stock split back in March, but it didn’t reveal the details.

Today, as part of the release of its prospectus for its 2022 annual shareholder meeting, Tesla announced that it is going with a three-for-one stock split – meaning that if you own one Tesla share, you will get two more.

The automaker is asking shareholders to approve increasing its common stock to 6,000,000,000 shares in order to enable the stock split:

The primary purpose of the Authorized Shares Amendment is to facilitate a 3-for-1 split of our common stock in the form of a stock dividend (the “Stock Split”). As of June 6, 2022, we have 1,036,390,569 shares of common stock outstanding, and the current number of authorized shares of our common stock is 2,000,000,000, which is insufficient to effectuate the Stock Split. Our Board intends to approve the Stock Split, subject to and contingent upon stockholder approval of the Authorized Shares Amendment.

As a reason for the stock split, Tesla notes that its stock price increased by 43% since the last stock split and lowering the price per share will help accessibility with employee stock options and retail investors.

The company wrote in the prospectus:

Our success depends on attracting and retaining excellent talent, not only through providing a respectful, safe, inclusive and equitable workplace, but also through offering outstanding benefits and highly competitive compensation packages. Unlike other manufacturers, we offer every employee the option of receiving equity. Since our stock split in August 2020 to June 6, 2022, our stock price has risen 43.5%. While this value appreciation has led to our employees benefiting enormously through the years, we want to make sure all employees, no matter when they join, have access to the same advantages. We believe the Stock Split would help reset the market price of our common stock so that our employees will have more flexibility in managing their equity, all of which, in our view, may help maximize stockholder value. In addition, as retail investors have expressed a high level of interest in investing in our stock, we believe the Stock Split will also make our common stock more accessible to our retail shareholders.

Tesla’s last stock split dates back just a few years ago in 2020. At the time, Tesla’s stock was trading at around $1,300 a share, but the stock-split announcement sent its stock price surging to a record high of $2,000 a share.

The split resulted in the price per share being reset at around $460 and a valuation of about $430 billion.

Today, Tesla’s stock trades at around $700 per share and a market capitalization of $720 billion. If the stock were to trade at the same level by the time the stock split goes through, Tesla’s stock would be trading at ~$233 per share.