Elon Musk’s $1T Tesla Pay Vote — What’s on the Ballot, Who’s For & Against, and Why It Matters
Quick Facts
Context
The package follows the 2018 $56B award that a Delaware judge voided in Jan 2024. The board’s revised plan is designed to retain Musk and tie rewards to aggressive long-term performance.
Infographic: Milestone Ladder
Illustrative view of the performance path from today’s market cap toward the $8.5T target. (Not to scale.)
| Checkpoint | Approx. Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Now | ~$1.45T | Starting point; plan proposes large equity only if targets hit. |
| Step 1 | $2–3T | Reaffirms growth engine (EVs, energy, autonomy). |
| Step 2 | $4–5T | Robotaxi scale-out & software margin inflect. |
| Step 3 | $6–7T | Ecosystem effects (energy + humanoid + services). |
| Target | $8.5T | Max performance tranche: Musk earns full award. |
Infographic: Stakeholder Map
| Stakeholder | Stance | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla Board (Denholm) | Support | Retention & motivation of CEO to deliver autonomy leadership and long-term value. |
| Norway SWF (Norges) | Oppose | Size of award, dilution, and key-person risk concerns. |
| Glass Lewis / ISS | Oppose | Comp magnitude & governance precedent. |
| Retail Investors | Mixed | Split between “vision requires Musk” and “no one is irreplaceable.” |
If the Plan Passes
- Continuity — Clear incentive for Musk to focus on Tesla’s autonomy, energy, and robotics roadmap.
- Signal — Strong vote of confidence in long-horizon value creation.
- Trade-off — Potential dilution balanced by performance triggers.
If the Plan Fails
- Leadership Risk — Musk may prioritize other ventures.
- Rework — Board likely returns with alternative comp design.
- Volatility — Near-term uncertainty around strategy and talent.
Timeline
- 2018: Shareholders approve $56B plan for Musk.
- Jan 2024: Delaware judge voids the 2018 plan.
- Sep 2025: Board proposes revised, performance-based $1T plan.
- Nov 6, 2025: Shareholders vote on new package.
Glossary
- Key-Person Risk: Dependence on a single leader for strategy and execution.
- Dilution: Reduction in existing shareholders’ percentage ownership when new equity is issued.
- Performance Tranches: Award segments that vest only upon predefined milestones.
Editor’s Notes
All figures and stakeholder positions reflect the latest reported details ahead of the vote. This brief is optimized for mobile reading and can be used as show notes for TTS or podcast narration.
© 2025 PyUncut • For editorial use
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Welcome back to PyUncut TechCast, where we decode the biggest stories in tech, business, and innovation that are shaping our future.
Today’s headline: Tesla shareholders are about to decide whether Elon Musk deserves a $1 trillion paycheck — or a hard reality check.
This isn’t just another corporate vote. It’s one of the most consequential moments in Tesla’s history — one that could decide the company’s direction, investor confidence, and perhaps even Musk’s future with the automaker.
Let’s dive in.
Segment 1: The $1 Trillion Question
On Thursday, Tesla shareholders will cast their votes on Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion compensation plan.
Yes, you heard that right — $1 trillion.
If approved, Musk would be entitled to roughly 12% of Tesla’s stock, but only if the company achieves extraordinary milestones — including an $8.5 trillion market capitalization and specific operational goals over the next decade.
To put that in context, Tesla today is worth about $1.45 trillion.
So this plan is essentially a bet — a bold, futuristic wager — that Tesla can nearly six-times its current value by 2035.
If that happens, Musk’s reward would be historic: a $1 trillion payout, entirely in stock, tied to performance.
Segment 2: The Legal Backdrop
Now, this isn’t the first time Tesla has tried something like this.
Back in 2018, shareholders approved a $56 billion pay plan for Musk — a record at the time.
But that deal was voided in January 2024 by a Delaware judge, who ruled that the compensation was excessive and that the approval process lacked proper independence.
That decision left Tesla in limbo — and Musk, by his own account, frustrated.
So this new proposal is designed to replace the voided one, this time with revised conditions and clearer performance criteria.
But make no mistake — it’s still enormous.
And that’s why the financial world is watching closely.
Segment 3: The Board’s Warning
Tesla’s board chair, Robyn Denholm, has made it clear what’s at stake.
In a letter to shareholders, she warned that if this plan doesn’t pass, Tesla risks losing Elon Musk to his other ventures — like SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), or his new AI company, xAI.
She wrote, and I quote:
“Do you want to retain Elon as Tesla’s CEO and motivate him to drive Tesla to become the leading provider of autonomous solutions and the most valuable company in the world?”
Denholm’s message is simple — without this incentive, Musk could shift his attention elsewhere, and Tesla could lose its visionary edge.
That statement alone has triggered a storm of reactions across Wall Street and social media.
Segment 4: Musk’s Pitch to Shareholders
Musk himself hasn’t stayed quiet either.
During Tesla’s most recent earnings call, he urged investors to approve the plan, saying he wants enough voting control to keep a “strong influence,” but, as he humorously added,
“not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane.”
It’s classic Musk — part engineer, part showman, part strategist.
But underneath the humor is a serious point: he wants to maintain control over Tesla’s direction, especially as it transitions from an EV maker to what he calls an “autonomous robotics company.”
Segment 5: The Opposition Mounts
Not everyone is convinced.
In fact, several major investors and advisory firms have come out against the plan.
The most prominent is Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, known as Norges Bank Investment Management — Tesla’s sixth-largest external shareholder.
They announced they will vote against Musk’s trillion-dollar package, citing concerns about “the total size of the award, dilution, and the lack of mitigation of key-person risk.”
In plain English: they think the package is too big, dilutes shareholder value, and makes Tesla too dependent on one person — Musk.
Proxy advisory firms like Glass Lewis and ISS have also recommended a “no” vote, warning that the deal is overly generous and could set a bad precedent for corporate governance.
Segment 6: Investor Reactions and Market Buzz
Despite the controversy, Tesla’s stock price has been rising in anticipation of the vote.
On Wednesday, it closed at $462 per share, up 4% for the day.
The market seems to be betting that the vote will pass — or at least that Musk’s leadership will continue to drive growth.
Still, reactions among retail investors are split.
On forums and comment sections, some fans argue that Musk deserves every penny, citing Tesla’s industry-defining achievements — from electric vehicles to energy storage and AI-driven autonomy.
Others say it’s absurd to reward any individual with $1 trillion, no matter how visionary, especially when Tesla’s workforce and shareholders carry much of the real risk.
One comment summed it up bluntly:
“He’s valuable, but everyone is replaceable. Tesla will survive even without him.”
Another wrote:
“If he needs a trillion dollars to stay motivated, maybe he’s already lost his passion.”
Clearly, emotions run high when it comes to Elon Musk.
Segment 7: What Happens Next
If the vote passes, Musk’s new compensation plan will stand as the largest performance-based package in corporate history.
If it fails, Tesla will have to rethink its executive strategy — and perhaps face the real possibility of Musk focusing more on his other ventures.
It could also impact Tesla’s ability to attract top talent and maintain investor confidence in its long-term vision — particularly as competition intensifies in EVs and AI-driven mobility.
For context, Tesla’s roadmap now extends far beyond cars.
It includes robotaxis, humanoid robots, autonomous fleets, and even energy storage megaprojects.
All of that requires Musk’s relentless drive — the same drive that’s both Tesla’s greatest strength and its biggest dependency.
Segment 8: Beyond Tesla — The Broader Implications
There’s also a philosophical question at the heart of this debate.
Should a CEO be rewarded purely based on market performance, even if the potential payout reaches into the trillions?
Or should corporate boards focus more on equitable compensation models that reward teams, not just individuals?
The answer may define how tech giants structure their leadership incentives in the coming decade.
If Musk’s package is approved, it could embolden other founders and visionary CEOs — at companies like OpenAI, SpaceX, or even startups — to negotiate massive performance-based deals tied to trillion-dollar ambitions.
If it fails, it could signal a shift toward more modest, diversified corporate governance.
Either way, the outcome will ripple across Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and the global tech ecosystem.
Segment 9: Closing Thoughts
Whether you admire him or not, Elon Musk remains the most consequential entrepreneur of our time.
From electric cars and rockets to AI and brain chips, his fingerprints are on nearly every frontier of technology.
This week’s shareholder vote isn’t just about how much he gets paid.
It’s about how much investors believe in his vision for Tesla’s next decade.
Is that vision worth a trillion dollars?
We’ll soon find out.
Thanks for listening to PyUncut TechCast.
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I’m your host — signing off with this thought:
In the world of innovation, the real currency isn’t dollars or stock options — it’s vision.
And Elon Musk has plenty of that.
Until next time, stay curious and stay invested.