I know what you’re thinking, Elon Musk — a man who is currently worth $430.9 billion — despite tanking his reputation and the reputation of his many companies, needs more money. Well, I’ve got good news, because the board of Tesla agrees with you. The automaker has proposed a new compensation agreement that could potentially be worth about $1 trillion. Yes… trillion with a “t.”
The proposal, which is designed to keep Musk at the helm of Tesla for another 10 years, sets a series of cartoonishly ambitious benchmarks he and the company must reach to meet the full payout, including the expansion of its robotaxi business and growing its market value to at least $8.5 trillion. Today, it sits at about $1 trillion.
The additional shares Musk could receive would push his stake in the Austin, Texas-based automaker to at least 25%. He’s stated in the past that he’d like a stake that size. From Bloomberg:
The plan dangles a financial windfall and expanded control of the company to Musk, already the world’s richest person, after his 2018 package valued in excess of $50 billion was struck down by a Delaware court. While Tesla appeals that decision, the board is seeking other ways to compensate its CEO, including with an interim stock award in early August valued at about $30 billion.
The incentives in the new plan aim to keep Musk’s focus on Tesla while it pursues growth in newer markets including robotics and artificial intelligence. Friday’s filing also included a non-binding shareholder proposal for Tesla to take a stake in Musk’s xAI startup, an idea Musk has previously discussed.
The new agreement underscores Musk’s iron grip on the automaker, despite the myriad demands on his time. Musk, who has served as Tesla’s top executive since 2008, oversees four other companies: SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and the Boring Co. He told Bloomberg in an interview in May that he’s committed to still being at the helm of Tesla in five years.
[…]
A market capitalization of $8.5 trillion would be more than double that of Nvidia Corp., currently the world’s most valuable company. Tesla’s value peaked in late 2024 at about $1.5 trillion.
The value of the latest CEO award, at $87.8 billion in the filing, would swell to about $1 trillion if Musk hits all the performance targets and gets to collect all the restricted shares. The proxy also outlines that Musk must participate in the board’s development of a framework for long-term CEO succession in order to earn either of the last two tranches of the performance award.
Previously, Musk has sort of held the board hostage, saying that if they didn’t arrange a new compensation program for him and get him a 25% voting control, he would pursue AI and robotics products elsewhere.
Of course, all of this is happening as Tesla struggles more than it has in years. The company reported two of its worst quarters in a long while and suffered a 13% decline in worldwide vehicle deliveries. You can thank Musk’s alignment with far-right worldwide political figures like President Donald Trump and the German AfD party for that. This is the exact type of guy you want to give a trillion bucks to, isn’t it?
It’s just nice to see the guy land on his feet after flaming out so badly from the White House.
