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Interns pulling in six-figure paychecks have got nothing on Elon Musk.
In a proxy filing this morning, Tesla revealed that it’s willing to pay the world’s richest man $1 trillion if he remains at the company for the next 10 years and meets certain benchmarks. Musk could also be awarded additional shares of Tesla to boost his stake high enough to give him 25% voting control of the company—something he has long been pushing for.
The plan includes a series of 12 tranches, each with its own performance benchmark, that Musk must hit before he can get the full payout. These include helping Tesla reach a market cap of at least $2 trillion (up from about $1.1 trillion today) and delivering 20 million vehicles (up from fewer than 2 million vehicles in 2024). Other caveats include Tesla delivering a million robotaxis and a million Optimus robots. And Musk will also have to help the board create a framework for finding a successor CEO.
Tesla’s board argues that this is actually a pretty good deal: In order to earn the full $1 trillion payout, Musk will have to create about $7.5 trillion in value for shareholders. But Musk’s 2018 compensation package, valued at upward of $55 billion, was struck down by a Delaware court last year thanks to dissatisfied shareholders. This new pay plan will go up for a vote at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting on Nov. 6, so we’ll have to wait a few more months to see if investors think the latest number is more agreeable.
For now, the market likes what it sees: Tesla shares rose 3.64% today.—MR