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TESLA CHIEF ELON Musk could be in line for a payout of one trillion dollars (€852 billion) if his electric car company meets a series of aggressive targets over the next 10 years, according to documents released by the company.
Tesla, which is leaning heavily into robotics and AI, said in a regulatory filing on Friday that the package has a dozen share tranches that include awards for Musk if targets, ranging from car production to the total value of the company, are met over that time period.
Very early in the plan, Tesla would have to reach a market valuation of two trillion dollars (€1.74 trillion) and achieve 20 million vehicle deliveries. Tesla delivered fewer than two million vehicles in 2024.
That milestone would also require a million robo-taxis in commercial operation and the delivery of one million artificial intelligence bots.
Musk needs to remain with Tesla for at least seven and a half years to cash out on any stock, and 10 years to earn the full amount.
He would also receive more voting power over Tesla under the proposed plan.
Tesla shares have plunged 25% this year largely thanks to criticism over Musk’s affiliation with US President Donald Trump. But Tesla also faces intensifying competition from the big Detroit carmakers and particularly from China.
The EV company is set to hold its annual shareholders meeting on 6 November.
Tesla’s last shareholders meeting was on June 13 last year, where investors voted to restore Musk’s record 44.9 billion-dollar pay package that was thrown out by a Delaware judge earlier that year.
A condition of the 11th and 12th tranches of the plan includes Musk coming up with a framework for someone to succeed him as chief executive.
The goals set out for Musk and Tesla are ambitious given recent tumult at the Texas company.
Tesla sales have fallen precipitously in Europe after Musk aligned with a far-right political party in German.
Sales plunged 40% in July in the 27 European Union countries compared with the year earlier even as sales overall of electric vehicle soared, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Sales of Chinese rival BYD continued to climb fast, grabbing 1.1% market share of all car sales in the month versus Tesla’s 0.7%.
In its most recent quarter, Tesla reported that quarterly profits plunged from $1.39 billion dollars to $409 million dollars.
Revenue also fell and the company fell short of even the lowered expectations on Wall Street.
Investors have grown increasingly worried about the trajectory of the company after Musk had spent so much time in Washington this year, becoming one of the most prominent officials in the Trump administration in its bid to slash the size of the US government.
Last month, Tesla said it gave Musk a stock grant of $29 billion dollars as a reward for years of “transformative and unprecedented” growth despite a recent foray into right-wing politics that has hurt its sales, profits and its stock price.
The award arrived eight months after a judge revoked Musk’s 2018 pay package for a second time, something the company noted in August. Tesla has appealed against the ruling.
Tesla said at the time that the grant was a “first step, good faith” way of retaining Musk and keeping him focused, citing his leadership of SpaceX, xAI and other companies.
Musk said recently that he needed more shares and control so he could not be ousted by shareholder activists.
Tesla’s stock rose nearly 2% in premarket trading.
With reporting by © Agence France-Presse
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