Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc on Friday proposed a three-to-one stock split, making its shares more affordable following recent sell-offs of the most valuable auto maker.

The company also said Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison, a friend of Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk, will not stand for re-election to Tesla’s board when his term ends at this year’s shareholder meeting.

Ellison is among the top investors who have promised funding toward Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of social media firm Twitter Inc.

Shares of Austin, Texas-based Tesla rose more than 1 per cent in extended trading on Friday. They have fallen nearly 40 per cent since Musk unveiled his stake in Twitter in early April, hurt in part by a strict lockdown in Shanghai that has affected Tesla’s production.

Shareholders will vote on Tesla’s proposed stock split on August 4. If approved, it would be the company’s first such action after a five-for-one split in August 2020.

Tesla said the split would enable its employees to “have more flexibility in managing their equity” and make its stock “more accessible to our retail shareholders”. Reuter

Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc have also recently split their shares.