*By Jeffrey Marcus*
Tesla's chairman and CEO Elon Musk escaped an attempt by some shareholders Tuesday to strip him of one of his jobs running the electric car company he founded 15 years ago. Musk will remain as chairman after he fended off an effort by an investor group to remove him and oust three board members loyal to him, including Musk's brother Kimbal.
The vote failed by a "super majority," the company said, which is not surprising. Any vote would take two-thirds to pass, and Musk himself reportedly owns one-fifth of the company's shares.
Other developments from the shareholders meeting include:
* Tesla announced plans to build a factory in China, a move that would allow the car company to avoid import tariffs there. The Chinese government recently announced it would allow electric car makers to own factories in China without a domestic partner. Tesla's head of global sales, Robin Ren, said the factory would be in Shanghai, and Musk said the factory would assemble cars and build batteries in the same place, [CNBC reported](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/tesla-talks-shanghai-factory-at-shareholder-meeting.html).
* With the help of a new third assembly line at the company's California factory, Musk said Tesla will likely be able to produce 5,000 Model 3 vehicles a week by the end of June. The plant is already producing an average of 3,500 week, he said, and the grueling months-long effort to ramp up production has been worth it. "It's been the most excruciating, hellish months I've maybe ever had, but I think we're getting there," Musk said [according to The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/business/tesla-once-a-wall-street-darling-faces-investor-challenge.html).
* Despite fatal crashes involving Tesla's Autopilot feature, the company is pressing ahead, even offering free trials for customers who are not certain they want to spend another $5,000 on a non-existent chauffeur, [Wired magazine](https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-shareholders-meeting/) reported.
* New models are on deck, including the all-wheel drive Model 3, expected to begin limited production later this year; the Model Y, which will go into production in 2020; and the semi truck and the new roadster expected around the same time.
* Musk did not lash out the way he did during Tesla's quarterly earnings call last month, when he antagonized analysts and institutional investors. But it was still an emotional shareholders meeting for Musk, who had his authority challenged and his vision questioned. He got a little choked up, [Reuters reported](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-shareholders/teslas-musk-says-quite-likely-will-meet-model-3-goal-directors-re-elected-idUSKCN1J12YT). "At Tesla we build our cars with love," Musk said. "At a lot of other companies, they're built by marketing or the finance department and there's no soul. We're not perfect, but we pour our heart and soul into it and we really care."
Watch [video](https://www.tesla.com/shareholdermeeting) of the full shareholders meeting on Tesla's website. For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/elon-musk-lives-to-fight-another-day-as-chairman-of-tesla).
James Whitley, Core Contributor at cypher, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses the underlying factors that support a bounce-back for Bitcoin despite the token's recent slump.
Commercial and residential buildings account for 13% of carbon emissions in the U.S., according to the EPA, and one company says it has a solution. Runwise says it has updated the boiler and heating systems of thousands of buildings, and that its technology not only lowers carbon output but also saves landlords money. Lee Hoffman, Co-Founder and COO of Runwise, joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Kirsten Jordan, real estate broker and star of 'Million Dollar Listing New York,' joins Cheddar News to talk about the state of New York City real estate, tips for homebuyers, and season 9 of the Bravo show.
Following sales tech startup Scratchpad raising $33 million in Series B Funding, CEO and co-founder Pouyan Salehi joined Cheddar to discuss how his company's software works to help salespeople with an all-in-one workspace, integrating with Salesforce to optimize notes, spreadsheets, and other relevant information so businesses can forecast and make the best decisions. "If you look at other crafts like artists, they'll have studios; chefs, they'll have kitchens; scientists will have labs, and we just asked, well, if you look at sales as a craft, why doesn't something exist that is designed solely for a salesperson?" Salehi said about his workspace app.
As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics inches closer, sponsors are facing mounting pressure to pull out of the games with China is under fire for controversies like the alleged human rights abuses against its Muslim minority population and the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai. Rick Burton, professor of sport management at Syracuse University, joined Cheddar to discuss what he expects to happen once the games begin. Burton said China is too large of a market for American advertisers to ignore, and he doesn't expect any of them to pull out of the games. "Olympic sponsors right now I think are really just trying to hang on and get through these 17 days, come out the other end," he said.
Google could be gearing up to release its own wearable device as rumors swirl about a potential smartwatch with the Pixel brand. Jon Prosser, the creator of Front Page Tech, who tweeted a possible leak about the product, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to discuss potential the benefits of it entering the same space as the Apple Watch. Prosser said, while he doesn't expect it to launch until at least 2023, the Pixel Watch will be "one of the most vital, most important wearables that we can have on the market," noting that it won't likely challenge Apple for much market share but will set the standard for other Android wearables to come.
The Federal Reserve released its highly-anticipated research weighing the pros and cons of a digital dollar in the U.S. The report comes as economic rivals like china have already piloted their own central bank digital currencies. Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst, The Americas, Oanda, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
