Tesla shareholders approve $1 trillion pay package for Musk | CNN Business

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Good. Rather have someone that has done so much for the world in the sense of climate and reduction of Co2 and increasingly technology than anyone else.

Yes. Clearly the trillionaires are making the world a better place.

No way he comes through with the the entire list in 10 years.

That’s a short sighted way to look at things.

Absolutely insane. No one needs that amount of money. Imagine how many people could be helped with just a fraction of that. You could probably solve entire crises or supply entire countries with lifetime food.

|Tranche|Market Cap Milestone|Operational Milestone|Value at Target ($B)|Cumulative Value at Target ($B)| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |1|$2.0T|$50B Adjusted EBITDA|20.29|20.29| |2|$2.5T|$80B Adjusted EBITDA|25.11|50.22| |3|$3.0T|$130B Adjusted EBITDA|29.83|89.50| |4|$3.5T|$210B Adjusted EBITDA|34.46|137.85| |5|$4.0T|$300B Adjusted EBITDA|39.00|195.01| |6|$4.5T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|43.45|260.73| |7|$5.0T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|47.82|334.75| |8|$5.5T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|52.10|416.84| |9|$6.0T|20M Tesla Vehicles Delivered (cumulative)|56.31|506.77| |10|$6.5T|10M Active FSD Subscriptions|60.43|604.33| |11|$7.5T|1M Bots Delivered + CEO Succession Plan|69.09|759.97| |12|$8.5T|1M Robotaxis in Commercial Operation + CEO Succession Plan|77.59|931.03|

Tesla sales are way down, and the brand’s in the shitter. Any company in this position and in their right mind should fire the CEO responsible

Entire crises like 40k Americans dying in auto accidents annually? Or maybe like 90k Americans dying from air pollution in cities annually? Or maybe like tens of millions of Americans without high speed internet access? Or maybe the poor quality of life of hundreds of thousands of paraplegic/quadriplegic Americans? Or the million blind people? Or the 5 million amputees? Not a zero sum game. He has and will continue to touch the lives of millions. His products have increased my quality of life significantly.

He did not solve these by himself. He didn’t even found Tesla. Where are sums like that for the actual engineers and designers of the cars? Also, solving deaths of 0.02% of people is not what I call “solving a crisis”. It’s great, sure, but not a crisis.

In 10 years, we'll be listening to someone with 5 shares claim it is unfair because it was too easy.

Oddly enough, none of them started 5 different successful moonshot startups. None of them poured their last penny and every second of their existence into what everyone else was calling a pipedream.

Can't make up that shit... good job nerds, let's see the manchild crash and fail and claim his trillion anyway.

Yep

Incorrect

He’s a “trillionaire” because he made the world better. Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from people wanting to purchase the product. He doesn’t manifest it out of thin air.

Refreshing to see someone with a working brain on Reddit.

I think a lot of people who haven't done anything other than work a standard job all their life can't understand how impossibly hard what musk did.

There wasn't a single incorrect or untrue statement made by that person. If you're going to state they are incorrect, specify what about.

Prove the brand is in the shitter. Sure, sales are down due to the cutting of the tax credit. Has nothing to do with the company. Shareholders just voted to give the man a $1 trillion package, so it’s obviously not the move to fire the guy. You guys are just saying emotionally loaded things about something you know nothing about.

Sales are down because of the tax credit? No, sales were up for the quarter just before that the tax credit expired, but they’re down for the year. As they were down in ‘24 compared to ‘23. But moving forward, yes I’m sure that the tax credit expiring will further hurt their sales.

No one needs but it’s helpful to advance helpful things. $1 trillion is a fraction of US budget, how much does that help? Ever heard of give someone a fish vs. teach how to fish? You know what makes food? Mitigating climate change for crops, onsite electricity systems or just increased labour and trade creating capital for other advancements. You need to reframe your idea of money and how it can be spent helping people.

That still does not justify unbridled greed

Yeah, we should take away his yachts and mansions.

|Tranche|Market Cap Milestone|Operational Milestone|Value at Target ($B)|Cumulative Value at Target ($B)| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |1|$2.0T|$50B Adjusted EBITDA|20.29|20.29| |2|$2.5T|$80B Adjusted EBITDA|25.11|50.22| |3|$3.0T|$130B Adjusted EBITDA|29.83|89.50| |4|$3.5T|$210B Adjusted EBITDA|34.46|137.85| |5|$4.0T|$300B Adjusted EBITDA|39.00|195.01| |6|$4.5T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|43.45|260.73| |7|$5.0T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|47.82|334.75| |8|$5.5T|$400B Adjusted EBITDA (in three non-overlapping periods)|52.10|416.84| |9|$6.0T|20M Tesla Vehicles Delivered (cumulative)|56.31|506.77| |10|$6.5T|10M Active FSD Subscriptions|60.43|604.33| |11|$7.5T|1M Bots Delivered + CEO Succession Plan|69.09|759.97| |12|$8.5T|1M Robotaxis in Commercial Operation + CEO Succession Plan|77.59|931.03| For context, Tesla is at $16B annual adjusted EBITDA.

The stock market is not based on actual sales. Tesla does not have an actual revenue reserve of a trillion dollars. The stock market is based on hopes and dreams of people pouring money into the stock. So, in a way, yes, that money will be manifested out of thin air.

If you think you are the person who can do the most for the world you need the most power to do so. Money is power.  He does support coming UHI. So I don't see that as greed more a acceleration to a goal. I don't know his inner thoughts of course. His moral compass might be wrong but I think he is trying to help mankind.

Trying to help mankind by helping a guy who doesn’t believe in climate change come into office is a very strange way of helping mankind.

Two more weeks

Just two more weeks 🤤

> muh global warming Two more weeks

And sales are way down for plenty of other legacy and EV automakers. Does that mean their brands were damaged too??

See you all at $100 Macdonald happy meals if those goals are met Inflation be wilding out into the future

In the US yes. Americans aren’t buying EVs. Tesla is struggling worse in most countries, while other brands are doing well.

Your operational milestones are wrong order and Tesla is actually at 10.53B adjusted EBITDA.

Concerning. Looking into it.

I must be out of the loop. I’ve seen this comment a handful of times in this thread. What’s in 2 weeks that is relevant to this discussion?

I do not think you understand how these tranches work.

You think Elon can make those goals? It’s kind of impossible if you compare to other EVs maker

It’s a meme that became popular during the 2015-2016 election season. The narrative was that trump’s campaign was unserious and would implode soon(TM). When detractors were inevitably wrong about one talking point, they’d pivot and the next thing that would vindicate them was conveniently always two weeks away. [This compilation](https://youtu.be/creay7X9XNU?si=RfmTNP8K4r8FluLy) from then captures the vibe perfectly. So I’m saying you’re in the “surely everything will fall apart soon THIS time” camp that’s constantly—and eventually spectacularly—wrong.

The stock is up over 150 points since this time last year.

Market cap and earnings really should be adjusted for inflation.

At least we’ll all be “millionaires” right?

If I were that certain, I'd definitely be shorting the company. *This is not financial advice*

Ah ok. Thank you!

Inflation is neglible with such large percentage increases from the present. Like .3T market cap and 4B EBITDA over the 10 years, doesn't really make a difference.

And the almost exponential growth of deliveries has peaked in 2023 and it's now declining...

The stock is the product at this point

I see tons of Teslas where I live. I’m sure that’s a common story. Great products. The takeover is real.

That person is wrong. “Two weeks” is a meme about Elon timelines always taking longer than the proposed “two weeks” that Musk might claim.

No, you’re wrong. It came from 4chan during the 2015-2016 trump campaign era, I was there.

They said that about his first comp package too. Now he's the richest man in the world. Place your bets on whether he can accomplish this set of goals.

Ughh I think that’s the joke he was making pal..

Ahhhh Damn - I guess my TSLA stock is what drives me to work every day without me doing a god damn thing? Elon really got me! I’ve been conned!

I believe strongly that he can.

Your eyeballs are a poor metric. The fact of the matter is, is that the growth story is long over

100%

Apple has had revenue declines multiple times throughout its history

>He didn’t even found Tesla. A small piece of advice: don't use this line unless you are addressing people in the hate-Tesla camp. It makes you look like you have no idea what you are talking about. You are right that he was not there when that company was created. He \*was\* there, however, before they had any money, any customers, any products, any projects, any assets, or even any plan. The only thing they \*did\* have was a handshake deal with an EV maker for their engine, that they ended up never actually using. He headed up the fundraising. He was Chairman of the board. Elon Musk became the driving force behind Tesla’s first car, the Roadster. And of course, he was the one as CEO that took a tiny company that everyone counted out, and steered them up until they suddenly were selling millions of cars a year and had the best selling model in the world. As for the "sums like that for the actual engineers": most sold out early. Too bad, so sad. JB Straubel shows what any smart early engineer did and held on. Oh, and he is worth a cool $1.6 billion. Pretty good for an engineer that never actually had to risk his own money. So you are right, except in all the ways that actually count.

Now this is excellent satire. I had to actually take a peek into your history to find out how you meant this, because there are plenty of people on Reddit who would have genuinely meant what you wrote. Very good satire.

“He did not solve these by himself” You don’t think the people working for him are well paid? They received stock, which has made many of them millionaires. “He didn’t even found Tesla” Such a dumb thing people still tout. Tesla was nothing without him joining it and would 100%, absolutely not have become what it is today (wouldn’t have even existed) without him. So was he in the garage on day 1? Did he join a couple guys in a garage with an idea? Yes. It’s even been settled in a court of law that he’s considered a founder. Get over it. “Not a crisis” 40,000 needless deaths in the US every year is a crisis. In fact, it’s widely viewed as a crisis, and just because you’re too myopic to see it that way doesn’t make it not true. It may not be an epidemic, but it’s a crisis.

It’s not about money, it’s about maintaining a degree of voting control of the company that he’s steered to this point. And the way to have that voting control is to have more shares. And those shares have value.

There's no need to look into their post history.  Musk doesn't have any yachts or mansions.  That's the joke.

So all in TSLA ?

During normal inflation sure, I don't anticipate normal 2% inflation over the next decade.

Only if you think he can hit these incredible goals. Place your bets.

That inflates away the awards as well.

Entire crisis like slashing USAID causing the deaths of 600,000 people this year? Thanks Musk.

I think you and me are some of the very few on this sub who were there, lol

Elon is worth $342 Billion, how many of us would show up for work if we were worth one thousandth of that? 1/10,000 of that $34 Million? Is there any CEO willing to stake their wages on 1/10 the value rise Elon is? I can’t imagine a better deal for the stock holders. How can one not love this as a fellow American? What are the other car companies doing?

You mean we all champions?

only chronic redditors think the brand is in the shitter lol

It doesn't, because the awards aren't in USD but rather in shares.

$1m says he does

Deal 🤝

Dude, TSLA at $8.5T LOL, no way he can make that happen

Hey! I'm all for it, but I'm just stating TSLA will not be $8.5T in 2035

If Tesla pulls off FSD and Optimus, I do not see why not.

Which are valued in.... say it with me....

Gold is also valued in USD. Is gold's value going to inflate away?

And made it up with a multi billion dollar services business. Tesla doesn’t have that luxury.

I see tons of the refreshed highland 3s and Ys on the streets so people apparently still love Tesla. Gonna hold

Let's hope they do! Me and my 5 shares /s

How dare you interrupt the fellatio fest with real numbers while we’re in the middle of pulling good deeds out of our biological fart noise makers.

There's a clear path for it. If Tesla sells quite a few robots, and takes over most of the existing taxi market with RoboTaxi, AND takes over a lot of shipping with Tesla semi-trucks, and don't forget even just Powerwalls are an expanding business. Tesla is a company doing the smartest things while most other companies are just spinning wheels.

Batteries alone are like a multi-billion dollar services business.

"Don't believe your lying eyes" Ok looser.

The value of Elon's compensation will inflate *exactly* as much as the market cap targets needed to achieve it, down to the cent.

Let see what happens.. remind me in 10 years! I just hope Elon is laser focused

These “clear paths” require you to make some extremely healthy assumptions

They had multiple declines before service was even a thing. You know they started it in 1976 right? Services took off after 2015. Your point does not stand. Tesla has batteries and also has services, which will grow. Batteries are growing extremely fast. FSD, Robotaxi, Premium Connectivity, and more services are coming.

Thought experiment: how much does Elon get (in today's money) if the USD magically inflated 1000% tomorrow? Elon suddenly hits all of the EBITDA and market cap targets, which are NOT adjusted for inflation AFAIK. Elon would get most of his shares without lifting a finger.

Looking back at the last few years and how inflation was higher than anticipated shows us that trying to see future inflation numbers would just be guesswork.

Good thing Tesla reincorporated in Texas where it's much harder for someone like that to actually matter.

Ok.. doesn’t Tesla buy batteries from partners?

Come on, man. You know the products and services you use every day come from industries that need to make a profit. How do you propose we go forward as a species? Your solution needs to not slow progress.

Absolutely unreal. He does cool shit good for him. None of my business.

Agreed. Although I am convinced there will be some \*special\* people out there who will scream how it is all impossible right up until they file that lawsuit about it being too easy.

That's because they couldn't produce as many as they need to use.

I am not in the US, but from the outside it seems that lawsuits are almost a form of sport there :-).

Profit does fuel innovation, but there is a difference between rewarding success and creating a system where one person accumulates trillions while workers struggle to afford housing or healthcare. We can keep incentives for progress while still having fairer wealth distribution.

Sales say otherwise, despite 3 new models in the past year.

Robots are goin to be so much harder to mass produce than electric vehicles or FSD, imo. Not saying he can’t do it since he’s done it before w/ EVs, but just like EVs there can be multiple players lol

Maybe you are confusing money/wage with wealth? If somebody owns a house they may be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nobody expects them to live like they make that in a month or even a year. In the case of Musk's compensation plan, the incentive is to grow the company (on multiple levels) and the great thing is that anyone can benefit from the growth, wealth created. Just by owning shares in the company. Any publicly traded company. Tesla shareholders will be worth a lot more if Musk reaches every tranche in the plan. I don't see the problem, especially since Musk is not getting money (as opposed to other CEOs who have high wages despite the company not performing well) and through the growth of the company everyone will benefit. With more EVs pollution (air and noise) will be lower. Especially in cities. Win-win.

You have no idea how complex cars are already; mass producing a robot not really more difficult except that the tooling needs to be honed. While there can be multiple players, just like with self driving Tesla is years ahead of anyone else - and as they have said they can use the same models cars use to understand the world, to also allow robots to navigate as well. How many robots are being built with 40 LIDAR sensors plastered around them to use the same models Waymo uses for example. That's all I have to say on the subject, you will see.

Goin from a dancing Optimus to one that can actually understand & do work around the house, I think is harder than building EVs. While in theory, Tesla robotaxis can scale faster than Waymo, they haven’t got rid of the safety driver like Waymo yet. Doesn’t mean I don’t think they can do it, but i defn want to see them do it first lol.

even if he only gets half way there, it will still be well worth going all in on TSLA

Trillionaires shouldn't exist. Why not give that money to Tesla employees since he was already a billionaire. There is no justification for this. This sub has become truly nauseating.

Right but we’re talking the modern versions of these companies. Apple had a massive install base to leverage for services when iPhone sales started slowing. Does Tesla manufacture batteries? How is that a revenue diversification option?

They produce batteries? I thought they just design them and contract other companies to manufacture them.

100% agree! I'm long and staying long.

No we aren’t. Apples first down year, from what I can find, was 1996, year 20 in business. No services then. Interestingly, this year is Teslas 20th year and may also be the first down year. Yes, Tesla manufacturers batteries, including the Megapack, which they sell to businesses and governments for energy storage. Revenue was $3.4 billion in Q3 2025, up 44% YOY. Car sales will become less and less important over time.

So, no Roadster? XD

I suppose there are two “two weeks” references because there’s def a Musk timeline reference too.

Like every meme, it starts on 4chan and eventually people on the left or people who hate republicans start using it, yeah.

I personally don’t intend to ever switch to another brand. My Tesla has been the best car I’ve owned.

Optimius has already had demos doing more boring work, if you think dancing is easier you don't know anything about robotics. Goodbye for ten years.

Yes, they have in house production in Nevada and Texas.

Wrong, Gold is the constant, USD is the variable. But yes gold prices are going much higher in terms of USD because of inflation.

I think you might be misunderstanding the entire argument. The value (in USD, not absolute value) of Elon's award will inflate with inflation. The targets will not. This means Elon could technically hit all of the EBITDA and market cap targets without adding real value, just due to inflation.

That is why I knew to even bother to look. \*I\* know he does not have any. \*You\* know he doesn't have any. Now you want to hazard a guess what the average Redditor "knows"?

News like this makes me less likely to purchase a Tesla. I used to be a big supporter, but ever since Musk showed his true sociopathic tendencies during Covid, his treatment of his daughter, and when he ran DOGE and cut services and support for those in the most need, I can no longer ethically support him or his companies.

The views in your post reveal that you never had any intention or desire to purchase a Tesla. You just came here to talk trash.

I was a big advocate for Tesla and Musk in general pre 2020. But I allow for my views and opinions to change as new information and evidence comes out. The past 5 years have really demonstrated him to be an incredibly selfish and corrupt person. He might have started off trying to better this planet and mankind, but he has let the power go to his head. The only reason to make this deal was for him to gain the title of the world's first trillionaire. He's not doing it for the people or planet.

You are making quite a few assumptions and inferences here, and the assumption that you know what someone is thinking and what their intention is. You look at what you see reported in the press, what those in your social and online circles believe, and draw your interpretations from those. I do not follow what the press or other people say. I go directly to the source and make up my own mind. That has allowed me to understand other people better and made me very successful. I watched the press trash Tesla from 2012 onward, watched stock analysts rate the stock poorly, and saw through their bullshit and ignored it. It helps that I have autism, as Elon does. People often misunderstand us because they judge us solely based upon social cues and interpretations. These judgments are nearly always wrong, which is why our social lives are very difficult. But the benefit is that we are not distracted by social noise and can see reality better, which is why you find a lot of us in math, physics, and engineering.

It's a good car, a reliable car, but if I had a choice, I'd want more control over my car, I'd want to be able to customize the software on my car, maybe add my own apps, maybe have more details about the capabilities and limitations of the FSD neural network (like how is the data preprocessed, how long is the context window if it's recurrent, so I know what to expect from FSD). Seems silly, but the fact that I can't log into the console of any of the 5 or so computers onboard the car that I own is frustrating to me. If any competitor offered a lower price or more control with the same hardware capabilities, I'd switch in an instant

Time will tell.

I don’t think any manufacturer will ever offer that level of access. Too much money to be made from PaaS / SaaS subscription models and partnership deals.

I know, one can wish. Would be funny if someone did offer that level of access and outperformed every competitor though by building a community that's actively improving their products. The reality though is you can have both, that is what Android is, open source software, but with PaaS and SaaS models backing it

Do you know why he is a “billionaire” - do you think he has billions of dollars?

His net worth is in the billions. Whether or not he has billions in his wells fargo account is irrelevent. He could cash out some stock right now and have access to a or multiple billion of dollars. Even if he didn't he has more money then you and I will ever make in our lifetime. Is that not enough? Do you think he has been unfairly compensated to this point? Has he done something recently that warrants a trillion dollar pay package?

1. What happens when he cashes out stock? He sells part of his company and it goes into the hands of someone else. Someone who may not run the company as well. 2. Do you think he got a trillion dollar pay package?? He signed a deal saying IF he meets seemingly impossible goals for the company as a whole, he will then get the package. In the meantime he gets no compensation. This is similar to the one that already happened for billions, which is how he is as wealthy as he is - he had to meet goals that people were calling impossible then.

> What happens when he cashes out stock? He sells part of his company and it goes into the hands of someone else. Someone who may not run the company as well. What are you talking about? What does that have to do with ANYTHING. My point is he is a billionaire, by literally any metric you want to use. He has access to billions of dollars. That makes him a billionaire. What happens next has nothing to do with the point im making about him being a billionaire. > Do you think he got a trillion dollar pay package?? He signed a deal saying IF he meets seemingly impossible goals for the company as a whole, he will then get the package. In the meantime he gets no compensation. This is similar to the one that already happened for billions, which is how he is as wealthy as he is - he had to meet goals that people were calling impossible then. I have not the time, nor the interest, in picking apart this insane take. He is objectively one of the wealthiest men in the world. Period. Approving a pay package that would make him a trillionaire in any circumstance is fucking insane.

Once you read the requirements for him to be awarded the 1 trillion you’ll know it’s never going to happen…

But Elon said it would babysit my kids...

“I have not the time, nor the interest”, yeah I can tell buddy. That’s why your takes are so bad. 1. Your very first comment. “Why not give that money to Tesla employees” - he would have to sell parts his company to do this. His company would then be led by less competent people and would not grow in the same way whatsoever. 2. “Has he done something recently that warrants a trillion dollar pay package?” - You thought he was getting the trillion now. He hit the last impossible goals, so they are setting up more impossible goals. It’s not about making the richest person richer. It’s about those goals. I believe that if you could go in and hit those goals without compensation in the meantime, you’d get the trillion as well. Unfortunately you don’t have a track record of hitting goals like that, and neither do Tesla employees, which is why Elon is getting it. If you want a piece of the pie, invest in Tesla stock. If he hits those insane targets everyone who invests will be rich.

Sure buddy

It’s figured in the cost of doing business. Law suits are a necessity. Otherwise people will still your livelihood, like China ignoring property rights and copyrights.

Speaking of which, I bought 10 at $300 and a couple or three weeks later it went up to $450. Almost fainted.

How many poor people works seven days a week, sleeping next to his work? Bill Gates and Elon Musk do and did. Living in the South I have seen lots of really poor families. We were not much better off. The reason almost all people are poor is their lack of self control, bad decisions and laziness learned from their families. There are poor people because of circumstances. These are the ones that need help or taken care of and we should, some get sick and we all grow old if we live long enough. That’s my observation and opinion.

Autism doesn’t change your moral compass. He can still treat his daughter right.

You mean by pretending that his son is a daughter? That he should should indulge ha son’s delusion? You probably don’t have kids, do you?

Seems like you don’t have kids. You should love your kids no matter what, even if they are transgender.