Elon Musk has called major investor advice firms opposing his $1trn pay package “corporate terrorists”.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, is continuing to lobby for the pay award from his electric vehicle company, Tesla.

He defended the sum during a Tesla earnings call on Wednesday, and criticised opponents – in particular two firms that help large investors decide how to vote at shareholder meetings.

The billionaire took aim at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis after the firms recommended shareholders vote against approving his new pay plan.

Mr Musk said ISS and Glass Lewis “have no freaking clue” and described them as “corporate terrorists”.

Explaining his desire for more control of the company, of which he is chief executive, he said: “I just think that there needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane.”

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Next month, Tesla investors will vote on a proposal that would give Mr Musk a greater say in the company, which he founded.

Shareholders will vote on whether to increase Mr Musk’s ownership of the business from 13% to nearly 29% if the company sells 12 million vehicles, produces one million humanoid robots, and launches one million robotaxis under his tenure.

Under the proposal, he would receive no salary or bonus but instalments of company shares for hitting the ambitious targets also around increasing Tesla’s market share, revenue and company value.

It is part of an effort by Tesla to ensure Mr Musk’s attention is kept on his work for the business after his heavy involvement with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

It comes as Tesla reported record car sales as people rushed to buy an electric vehicle (EV) before a US subsidy came to an end.

Despite the highest-ever quarterly sales, Tesla’s share price sank 4% as it missed profit targets for the fourth three-month period in a row.

Tariff and research costs and a loss of US government financial support weighed on the firm.

Also potentially of concern for investors is the fact the company issued no production forecasts.

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Tesla shares have fallen drastically in the first four months of the year, dropping as much as 39% in March, as Wall Street reassessed the company’s value.

But the focus on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and self-driving tech has helped fuel investor enthusiasm. Tesla’s up 9% so far this year.

Manchester Pride has been put into voluntary liquidation and is being assessed by the charities regulator, with the future of the event in doubt.

Artists, suppliers and freelancers have been left unpaid, some of them owed thousands, the performers’ and creatives’ union Equity said.

After nearly a week of speculation and a period of financial difficulty, Pride’s organisers cited rising costs, declining ticket sales and an unsuccessful bid to host Euro Pride as factors behind the decision.

The organisation is a charity and limited company that campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality and puts on the annual parade and live events.

The company had been in financial difficulty, according to latest accounts, and gone through a series of directors in recent months. All three directors appointed in August resigned this month.

An up-to-date picture of Manchester Pride’s finances is not available, as the last update was submitted in September 2024 for the year up to December 2023, showing a consolidated deficit of nearly £500,000.

At that point, the company said it could continue to exist, as a “going concern”, as it said a review of the charity’s strategy would take place, detailed budgets and cash forecasts had been prepared for 2024 and 2025, and it had been in surplus up to August 2024.

Manchester Pride said at the time it had a plan to diversify income streams and rebuild cash reserves.

Accounts for 2024 are not due until 31 December this year.

As a charity, Manchester Pride Limited is regulated by the Charity Regulator, which said it had opened a compliance case “to assess concerns raised” about the organisation. “We are engaging with the trustees to help inform any next regulatory steps,” a spokesperson said.

It’s understood that Manchester Pride submitted a serious incident report relating to its finances.

What went wrong?

Directly impacted by the liquidation is freelance event manager Abbie Ashall, who is owed £2,000 after her pay day was missed in September.

Ms Ashall said she was not the worst hit; others are out of pocket even more, having hired and paid people for events they were contracted to put on, all with the expectation of being paid by Manchester Pride.

She had been an employee of Manchester Pride from summer 2023 to January 2025, but left to go freelance when staff members left and were not being replaced, raising concerns about resources to deal with an increasing workload. It was at that point that she assumed things were not going well financially.

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She continued to work for the organisation on a freelance basis, project managing the 2025 parade and now producing a musical, Spraywatch: A Beautiful Rescue.

Manchester Pride’s difficulties can, in part, be attributed to its model of getting people to pay for a wristband to access sites which are public spaces.

“I don’t think that the business model worked at the end of the day,” Ms Ashall said.

“And I think not enough people were buying tickets… we’re seeing a massive trend in the events and festival industry that people just are not buying”.

What next?

Creatives waiting to be paid have been urged to contact the Equity union.

“We are collecting contractual information to pursue all options to recoup money owed, and we will begin these processes immediately,” said Equity’s North West official, Karen Lockney.

“We are also speaking with Manchester City Council and other stakeholders to ensure artists’ voices are heard in discussions about the future of Pride in the city, ensuring that Manchester gets the Pride it deserves”.

Details of those owed money have been passed to the liquidators, Manchester Pride’s board of trustees said in a statement.

What does this mean for Pride in Manchester?

A Pride celebration will take place in August next year with council support, Manchester City Council said.

“There will undoubtedly be anxiety about what the future holds – but Pride is much more than the organisation that runs it. We want to support a new chapter for Manchester Pride weekend, which will take place next August.

“The council will play a full and active role in bringing together the LGBTQ community to help shape how the city moves forward to ensure a bright and thriving future for Manchester Pride.”

You know bad economic news is looming when a Chancellor of the Exchequer tries to get their retaliation in first.

Treasury guidance on Tuesday afternoon that Rachel Reeves has prioritised easing the cost of living had to be seen in the light of inflation figures, published this morning, and widely expected to rise above 4% for the first time since the aftermath of the energy crisis.

In that context the fact consumer price inflation in September remained level at 3.8% counts as qualified good news for the Treasury, if not consumers.

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The figure remains almost double the Bank of England target of 2%, the rate when Labour took office, but economists at the Bank and beyond do expect this month to mark the peak of this inflationary cycle.

That’s largely because the impact of higher energy prices last year will drop out of calculations next month.

The small surprise to the upside has also improved the chances of an interest rate cut before the end of the year, with markets almost fully pricing expectations of a reduction to 3.75% by December, though rate-setters may hold off at their next meeting early next month.

September’s figure also sets the uplift in benefits from next April so this figure may improve the internal Treasury forecast, but at more than double the rate a year ago it will still add billions to the bill due in the new year.

For consumers there was good news and bad, and no comfort at all from the knowledge that they face the highest price increases in Europe.

Fuel prices rose but there was welcome relief from the rate of food inflation, which fell to 4.5% from 5.1% in August, still well above the headline rate and an unavoidable cost increase for every household.

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The chancellor will convene a meeting of cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss ways to ease the cost of living and has signalled that cutting energy bills is a priority.

The easiest lever for her to pull is to cut the VAT rate on gas and electricity from 5% to zero, which would reduce average bills by around £80 but cost £2.5bn.

More fundamental reform of energy prices, which remain the second-highest in Europe for domestic bill payers and the highest for industrial users, may be required to bring down inflation fast and stimulate growth.