Elon Musk Isn

At a normal company, years of sliding sales, multiple public controversies and endlessly volatile share prices would cost the CEO his or her job. But on Thursday evening, Tesla shareholders proved yet again that it’s not a normal company, handing CEO Elon Musk an unprecedentedly large $1 trillion pay package.

The vote to greenlight Musk’s new compensation was approved with 75% of the vote, company officials announced at the annual shareholder meeting in Austin. The pay package is, according to Reuters, larger than the GDP of several countries, including Belgium and Argentina. 

“I’d like to just give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the shareholder votes,” Musk said, beaming onstage as he spoke of Tesla’s future plans for autonomous cars, robots and what he calls “sustainable abundance via AI and robotics.”

“That’s the future we’re headed for,” Musk said, adding that he believed Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot would “10x the economy,” without elaborating on how he came to that conclusion. 

Earlier, Musk had threatened to leave the company entirely if his pay package was not granted, which most experts and analysts believed would have torpedoed its stock price and market capitalization. Tesla is currently valued more highly than about a dozen other carmakers combined, on the premise that it alone can be first to deliver fully autonomous cars, then humanoid robots and advanced AI.

“Every car we make is a robot,” Musk said. “I guess what I’m saying is hang on to your Tesla stock.”

To achieve this full degree of compensation, Musk would have to take Tesla to milestones that may well be impossible: 20 million Tesla vehicles delivered, 10 million subscriptions to the Full Self-Driving autonomous driving assistance system, 1 million humanoid robots delivered, and 1 million robotaxis in operation, among other things. 

In recent years, Musk has insisted that Tesla’s future lies beyond being a mere maker of electric vehicles. It needs to transition to becoming a humanoid robotics, AI, chip, energy storage and software powerhouse, he has said—justification for apparently no longer developing new car models. Or at least, not cars that have steering wheels or pedals. And while Musk has been accused of being “distracted” by his other ventures like SpaceX and the social media site X, he has said he does not feel “comfortable” building an army of AI-powered robots unless he had greater control of the company. Without that, Musk said, he may need to leave and pursue those ventures elsewhere.

Yet the shareholder vote came at a time when Americans, and the world at large, hold an unfavorable view of Musk. The world’s richest man has been embroiled in a countless number of controversies in recent years, most recently his deep involvement in right-wing politics and alliance with President Donald Trump—a relationship that ended acrimoniously earlier this year. More recently, he was accused of calling for a civil war in the United Kingdom. Partly because of this, and partly because of intensifying competition, Tesla’s car sales have been sinking for some time. 

But in reality, the idea that Musk would leave Tesla was something of a pipe dream. Most analysts, experts and even the betting market predicted Musk would be granted his pay package out of fear he’d make good on that threat, likely causing its stock price to crash to Earth.  

Musk has been inextricably linked to Tesla for nearly two decades. Now, it doesn’t look like that will end anytime soon—or ever.

Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com