In a move that’s sure to send ripples through Wall Street and much of corporate America, Tesla shareholders have voted in favor of an utterly insane compensation package for CEO Elon Musk — one that could make him the world’s first trillionaire. The nearly $1 trillion compensation package — one of the largest in history — is being used to link Musk’s payout to a series of impossible-to-achieve milestones, making it clear exactly how much influence he wields and how much is now at stake.
The package, which has the backing of more than 75% of investors, would award Elon Musk options valued at nearly $900 billion over the next decade — but only if Tesla’s market value rises from its current $1.1 trillion to a never-before-seen $8.5 trillion. That’s more, for context, than the combined value of Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet.
A Decision Infused With High Risk In a Divided America
The shareholder approval came as stark economic contrasts were on display. As Elon Musk’s bold vision was being celebrated by investors in Texas, just across the border, in New York, voters were electing Zohran Mamdani — a progressive “tax-the-rich” candidate on the ballot for mayor. The two instances in time provide a resonant snapshot of America’s economic divide: one side exulting in the colossal creation of wealth, the other demanding something more like fair distribution.
At Tesla’s headquarters, the event felt more like a rock concert than a corporate meeting. Musk took the stage to a funk beat and was joined by Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, as he opened with this quip: “Other shareholder meetings are like snooze fests. Ours are bangers.” It was classic Musk — part showman, part strategist — and it worked.
There’s a thin line between Genius and Control.
But beneath the pageantry is a more worrisome reality. Critics say Elon Musk’s new pay plan opens the door to potentially harmful concentration of power in visionary chief executives and the companies they run. Critics say that Tesla’s board has grown infatuated with Musk the personality and has given him more power than almost any chief executive in U.S. corporate history.
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of Tesla’s most prominent investors, voted against the plan altogether because “it involves an unproportional high risk,” according to a letter from the group about its objections.) But for others, the package offers a fitting payback to the leader who has upended electric mobility, offered humanity a road (or rather, a tunnel) to space, and now offers AI.
Elon Musk’s ambitions are part of it: plans to put one million robotaxis and one million humanoid robots in use by 2035 — amounts that are grand even on his scale of grandiose. If realized, Tesla wouldn’t be merely an automaker; it would lead the way in robotics, autonomy, and planetary energy change.
Legal Shadows and Lofty Ambitions
The massive deal also raises new questions about Tesla’s corporate governance. A previous $50 billion compensation package for Elon Musk in 2018 was nixed by a judge in Delaware, who found conflicts of interest on the board. And while he has appealed the ruling, the dispute remains one of several that have marred Tesla’s executive compensation policies.
Still, Musk’s confidence remains unshaken. In a recent earnings call he joked, “I think my control of the company is secure — I don’t mean to sound like paranoid; my control of Tesla is not what I’d recommend it be because I don’t have that many shares, but it’s enough where if something crazy happened and some off-the-wall thing was put up for a vote … even if everyone else voted, they would never succeed.” It did little to calm investors’ jitters, but it was perfectly representative of Musk’s mix of self-deprecation and boldness.
The Big Picture: America’s Wealth Debate
Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar knockout comes at a moment when many Americans are increasingly doubting the fairness of the country’s economic system. THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR BEING A LIVING HUMAN Rising costs of living, wage stagnation, and income inequality have brought calls for corporate accountability and progressive taxation back to the fore.
To his fans, Elon Musk is a fearless evangelist for technological progress — someone who, despite the naysayers and critics, has reaped rewards by turning daydreams of tomorrow into tangible reality. To his detractors, he embodies a capitalist order that increasingly seeks the interests of the few over those of the many.
Either way, the point is clear: The line between genius and domination has never been finer. As Tesla hurls toward a new frontier — AI, robotics, and Elon Musk’s ambition know no borders — the world will be watching to determine whether this blockbuster pay deal helps drive progress or exacerbates the divide between innovation and inequality.
Read more about Elon Musk’s $1trn pay deal on The Economist.
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