Tesla shareholders have officially approved a record-breaking compensation package for CEO Elon Musk, setting the stage for him to potentially become the world’s first trillionaire. The decision was announced during Tesla’s annual meeting, where over 75% of shareholders voted in favor of the pay deal amidst roaring cheers, dancing robots, and Musk himself joining in on the celebrations.
The package, one of the largest in corporate history, ties Musk’s compensation entirely to Tesla’s future performance. He will not receive a traditional salary but instead stands to gain hundreds of millions of new Tesla shares if the company achieves a series of ambitious growth targets over the next decade.
To unlock the full value of the deal — estimated to be worth about $1 trillion — Musk must dramatically raise Tesla’s market capitalization while meeting specific performance goals. Among them is a bold target to bring one million driverless robo-taxis into commercial operation within 10 years.
During the event, Musk expressed gratitude to shareholders and outlined his vision for Tesla’s future, emphasizing that the company is evolving beyond electric vehicles. He said the company aims to become not only the largest EV manufacturer in America but also the world’s biggest producer of humanoid robots.
“I think it’s going to be the biggest product of all time by far,” Musk said, referring to Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus. “Bigger than cell phones, bigger than anything.”
The announcement has attracted both praise and criticism. While many retail investors and Tesla enthusiasts support the decision, some major institutional investors voiced concern over the package’s scale and implications. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, for example, voted against the deal, citing its disproportionate size and uncertainty around Tesla’s direction.
Financial commentator Susanna Streeter noted that Tesla’s board undertook a massive marketing campaign to rally shareholder support for the package. “It wasn’t surprising given the huge push from Tesla and its board,” Streeter said. “There are armies of retail investors who have fully bought into the Tesla vision.”
However, she cautioned that achieving the goals required for Musk’s payout will not be easy, citing increasing competition in the artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous vehicle sectors. “Tesla is positioning itself as an AI and robotics company now — that’s where its valuation hopes come from,” Streeter explained. “But in self-driving technology, for example, Alphabet’s Waymo is already rolling out cars in major cities, while Tesla remains largely in the testing phase.”
In robotics, too, Tesla faces tough competition. Chinese firms like Agile Robots and Bosch’s Chinese operations have reportedly developed humanoid robots that are more advanced than Tesla’s current prototypes. In energy storage and AI, Tesla also faces growing competition from global players.
The long-term goal behind Musk’s compensation package is to push Tesla’s valuation toward an extraordinary $8 trillion — a number that even industry experts find difficult to comprehend. For context, Nvidia, one of the world’s leading chipmakers, recently hit a $5 trillion valuation, itself an unprecedented achievement.
But amid this optimism, some analysts warn of a potential “AI bubble,” with valuations across the tech sector becoming increasingly inflated. Senior banking executives and market strategists have repeatedly warned of a possible correction in AI-related stocks, suggesting that Tesla’s lofty ambitions may face turbulence ahead.
Despite the uncertainty, Tesla’s shareholders appear confident in Musk’s leadership and vision. The approval of this pay package underscores the immense trust retail investors continue to place in him — and their belief that his bold ventures in AI, robotics, and clean energy could reshape entire industries.
If Musk achieves the milestones required, his payout would be unlike anything the corporate world has ever seen — a mountain of wealth so vast that, as one commentator put it, “a trillion dollars in $100 bills would reach a third of the way to the moon.”
Whether Tesla can truly reach that astronomical valuation remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Elon Musk’s ambitions, and the faith of his investors, remain as sky-high as ever.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Readers are advised to conduct their own research before making investment decisions.
