Tesla shareholders have voted in favor of a landmark compensation plan for Elon Musk, potentially granting him stock worth up to one trillion dollars if the company meets ambitious goals over the next decade.
Preliminary results from Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting indicate that 75% of voters supported the measure. The package stipulates that Musk will receive no salary, but may unlock stock awards of immense value once performance criteria are achieved.
To claim the payout, Musk must drive Tesla’s market capitalization from its current $1.5 trillion to beyond $8.5 trillion. This would make Tesla by far the most valuable company in history.
For reference, Nvidia — the AI-driven chipmaker — is currently valued at $4.83 trillion. Its CEO earns about $50 million annually and holds 3.5% of the company, a fraction of Musk’s potential stake in Tesla.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s wealth sits at roughly $460 billion, primarily built on Tesla’s soaring stock price, which now trades around $465 per share — more than 400 times its 2010 IPO value.
A prior compensation plan worth $55.8 billion has been tangled in legal disputes after a judge ruled that Tesla’s board had been overly sympathetic to Musk during its design.
“Elon Musk’s new deal could reshape corporate compensation history, hinging entirely on his ability to turn Tesla into the world’s most valuable enterprise.”
Author’s summary: Tesla investors backed an unprecedented trillion-dollar incentive for Musk, aligning his fortune with Tesla’s market dominance over the next decade.