Tesla has announced Friday it will seek shareholder approval to implement a 3 for 1 stock split. Shareholders will vote August 4th, at their annual shareholder meeting, on the proposal. The split would be performed via a special dividend disbursed to investors.

After hours on Friday, as the news broke, Tesla shares rose 3%. They had dropped 3.1% during Friday’s regular trading. So far this year Tesla is down 34%.

Tesla said the 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.”

The prospect of a split had already been announced in March, but this was the first disclosure of exactly how the split would be performed. For Tesla, this is the second stock split in two years. Back in August of 2020 there was a 4 for 1 split. Stock splits generally increase the value of a company’s shares as they reduce the price to acquire a share, opening up ownership opportunities to a wider share of investors and boosting demand for the stock on the market.

In other Tesla news, Tesla Board member Larry Ellison, executive chairman of Oracle (ORCL), will be stepping down. In 2018, he first disclosed he had acquired a stake in the company and immediately joined the Board. After his departure, the Tesla board will only comprise seven members. Ellison had been a key financial backer of Elon Musk’s takeover attempt of Twitter, which is still ongoing.

Tesla also intends to ask shareholders to vote to reduce the term of a Director on its board from 3 years, down to 2 years.

There are expected to be additional shareholder proposals, including regarding the right of employees to unionize, and proposals regarding Tesla’s approach to sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Musk has previously invited United Autoworkers Union to hold a vote at its California factory, but the company has no plan for how to operationalize any changes which might occur in response to that vote. Tesla’s Board has advised a vote against the unionization proposal, noting Tesla has increased base pay for its manufacturing jobs and “actively” protects employees’ rights.