Tesla’s board has put forward a historic compensation package for Chief Executive Elon Musk, tying up to one trillion dollars in equity to a set of ambitious performance benchmarks over the next ten years.
The package would grant Musk up to twelve percent of Tesla’s shares, delivered through twelve separate tranches, contingent upon the company achieving exponential growth in both market value and operations. The thresholds include multiplying Tesla’s market capitalization by approximately eight times—aiming for around eight to eight point six trillion dollars—and raising adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from about sixteen billion to four hundred billion dollars. Operational targets entail significant vehicle production, deployment of robotaxis, and manufacturing one million humanoid robots. Musk must remain with the company for a substantial portion of the period to unlock the awards.
This proposal underscores Tesla’s heavy reliance on Musk’s leadership as it shifts from purely electric vehicle manufacturing toward artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. The package arrives following a prior court dispute that voided Musk’s 2018 pay deal, and follows a fallback award of roughly twenty-nine billion dollars granted earlier this year.
Supporters argue the plan aligns Musk’s incentives with Tesla’s transformation and long-term value creation. Critics, however, raise concerns over corporate governance, potential dilution of shareholder value, and the unprecedented scale of the package. Tesla will hold a shareholder vote on the proposal in early November.