Tesla’s board of directors is asking shareholders to approve a new pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could be worth up to $1 trillion in a decade, representing one of the richest compensation packages in corporate history.
According to a regulatory filing published Friday, the electric car maker’s board wants to award Musk about 423 million shares, which today have a value of $143 billion, if the company hits certain profitability, production and market capitalization milestones.
“Tesla does not currently have a long-term CEO performance award in place to retain and incentivize Elon to focus his energies on Tesla and lead us through this pivotal moment in our history. It’s time to change that,” board members said in a letter to shareholders.
For Musk to earn the full pay package, Tesla would have to reach a market cap of $8.5 trillion — about eight times its current value — in 10 years. At that level, the stock awarded to Musk would be worth more than $1 trillion.
Tesla would also need to hit certain operational targets for Musk to collect the full pay package. Those include delivering 20 million vehicles; producing 1 million of the automaker’s self-driving “robotaxis”; and manufacturing 1 million of the company’s humanoid robots, dubbed Optimus, which are currently under development.
Musk would also receive more voting power over Tesla under the proposed plan.
The company’s new compensation scheme “represents a critical next step to keep Musk as CEO at least until 2030,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a report, adding that Tesla is “heading into one of the most important stages of its growth cycle with the autonomous and robotics future now on the doorstep.”
The entrepreneur’s previous compensation has drawn legal challenges. In 2018, Tesla investors filed a lawsuit challenging Musk’s $56 billion pay package, alleging that he and the company’s board had breached their fiduciary duties. In December, a Delaware judge ordered the company to revoke that award.
In August, Tesla said it was granting Musk shares totaling around $29 billion.
Tesla’s vehicle sales have stalled over the last year, dropping 1% in 2024 from the previous year — the car maker’s first annual sales decline in 12 years — amid mounting competition from rival automakers and unhappiness among some customers at Musk’s support for President Trump. In its most recent quarter, Tesla reported that quarterly profits plunged from nearly $1.4 billion to $409 million, while revenue also sank.
Tesla’s stock price has slumped in 2025, but has risen more than 54% over the last 12 months and roughly 143% over the last five years.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
Aimee Picchi
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
