Tesla shareholders have been handed the replace-the-founder question several times, just never in those words. In 2018 the SEC settlement took the chairman seat away from Elon Musk. In January 2024 a Delaware judge cancelled his 2018 pay plan. Shareholders voted it back that June, then approved the new plan in November 2025 with more than 75% support, and in December 2025 the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated the 2018 package. As an investor I read all of that very simply. The owners looked at what Tesla would be without him and didn't want to own that company. Robotaxi and Optimus were bets a hired manager would never have made while analysts asked about next quarter's margins. Elon Musk keeps betting Tesla on the next ten years, and every time the owners were asked, they chose to keep that kind of founder in charge.