What you give the richest man in the world is simple for Tesla’s board of directors: the chance to become even richer — to the tune of a trillion dollars.
On Friday, Tesla unveiled a new pay package for Elon Musk that could hand him up to 423.7 million additional shares over the next decade. At today’s share price, that amounts to $148.7 billion. But if Tesla hits the ambitious milestones baked into the plan, those shares could be worth close to $1 trillion.
The condition: Tesla’s market value would need to reach $8.5 trillion — roughly eight times its current size, and twice as much as any company has ever been worth.
The board argues that no one but Musk has the vision and force of will to pull off that kind of leap. In its filing, directors warned that without such incentives, Musk might turn his attention elsewhere — to SpaceX, his artificial intelligence venture xAI, or his social media platform X. Musk himself has mused about seeking greater influence outside Tesla if he cannot secure the 25% voting stake he covets.
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“This is all about Musk being scared about being kicked out of Tesla because he only owns 13%,” said Ross Gerber, an early Tesla investor who has since sold most of his shares. Musk has been blunt about his conditions: in a January 2024 post on X, he declared that he would not expand Tesla into artificial intelligence and robotics without that 25% control.
The package is also a plea for his attention. Musk has often treated Tesla like one project among many — at times more consumed with rockets, satellites, and political side ventures than with building cars. “The simple message the board is sending to Elon: ‘We want your attention on Tesla,’” wrote Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management.
For Tesla’s boosters, the bet is that Musk’s restless genius will deliver a future of robotaxis, humanoid robots, and autonomous fleets — a vision that could justify the astronomical valuation. Skeptics see a company bending to a mercurial leader’s demands.
Either way, the wager is clear: Tesla is betting its future — and $1 trillion — on one man’s grip at the wheel.