SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package garnered support from about 77% of total votes cast at its annual shareholder meeting, according to a company filing on Friday.
Investors holding 1.76 billion shares voted in favor of the pay package, which is the largest in U.S. corporate history, while 528.9 million shares voted against and 20.6 million shares abstained.
In 2018, 73% of Tesla investors had voted in favor of the same pay package, which was voided by a Delaware judge this year.
Tesla shareholders had approved Musk's pay on Thursday, in what was a big thumbs-up to his leadership and an incentive to keep his focus on the electric automaker, which is his biggest source of wealth.
The approval underscored the support that Musk enjoys from Tesla's retail investors, many of whom are vocal fans of the mercurial billionaire. The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms.
The approval does not, however, resolve a lawsuit on the pay package in a Delaware court, which some legal experts said could stretch out for months. The judge invalidated the pay in January, describing it as "unfathomable."
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)