Tesla Approves Musk's $1T Pay

Tesla shareholders have approved a compensation plan that could award CEO Elon Musk up to $1 trillion in stock, making it the largest pay package in corporate history. More than 75% voted in favor of the proposal at the company's annual meeting at its Austin headquarters, the Wall Street Journal reports. The package, which puts Musk on track to become the world's first trillionaire, was designed to keep him at the wheel for the next decade as the company incorporates artificial intelligence. Although there was opposition, Musk took the stage Thursday flanked by dancing humanoid robots as shareholders applauded and chanted his name. "What we're about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla but a whole new book," he told them, per the Washington Post.

The package is intended to incentivize Musk, already the world's richest person, as Tesla pivots toward new technologies, including humanoid robots. One of the milestones he has to hit to collect is the sale of 1 million of the robots to customers. Supporters who view the plan as a bet on Musk's ability to deliver on the goals had been advocating approval on social media. The Florida State Board of Administration explained its yes vote in a securities filing, per the New York Times. "A company that went from near bankruptcy to global leadership in E.V.s and clean energy under similar frameworks has earned the right to use incentive models that reward moonshot performance," the filing said. Musk would need to stay as CEO for 7½ years to become vested in any shares from the new package, per NBC News.

Opponents included several major institutional investors, including CalPERS and Norges Bank, who objected to the plan's scale and design. "This is not pay for performance. It is pay for unchecked power," Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, said recently. In September, Pope Leo XIV brought up the pay plan in expressing concern about the widening income gap between CEOs and working people. If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we're in big trouble," the pope said. Musk maintains that the humanoid robot that Tesla is developing, Optimus, is the best bet for eliminating poverty.