{"id":4125,"date":"2025-11-07T12:24:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/elon-musks-1tn-pay-deal-approved-by-tesla-shareholders\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T12:24:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T12:24:00","slug":"elon-musks-1tn-pay-deal-approved-by-tesla-shareholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/elon-musks-1tn-pay-deal-approved-by-tesla-shareholders\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk&#8217;s $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"byline-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-0 fYJjWP\" readability=\"10\">\n<div class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-1 jqWinX\"><time datetime=\"2025-11-07T10:03:09.647Z\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-2 dQuPjg\">2 hours ago<\/time><\/div>\n<p><span data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-11 ljQVMv\" readability=\"10\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-7 byKoUE\">Lily Jamali,<\/span><span data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors-contributor-0-role-location\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-8 gTWlHk\">North America Technology correspondent<\/span><span class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-9 bTXCSY\">, <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-7 byKoUE\">Liv McMahon,<\/span><span data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors-contributor-1-role-location\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-8 gTWlHk\">Technology reporter<\/span><span class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-9 bTXCSY\"> and <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-7 byKoUE\">Osmond Chia,<\/span><span data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors-contributor-2-role-location\" class=\"sc-7bfdb3c2-8 gTWlHk\">Business reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"22\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Tesla boss Elon Musk has had a record-breaking pay package that could be worth nearly $1tn (\u00a3760bn) approved by shareholders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The unprecedented deal was approved by 75% of votes and drew huge applause from the audience at the firm&#8217;s annual general meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Musk, who is already the world&#8217;s richest man, must drastically raise the electric car firm&#8217;s market value over 10 years. If he does this and meets various targets, he will be rewarded with hundreds of millions of new shares.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The scale of the potential payout has drawn criticism, but the Tesla board argued that Musk might leave the company if it was not approved &#8211; and that it could not afford to lose him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"26\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Following the announcement, Musk took to the stage in Austin, Texas and danced to chants of his name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;What we&#8217;re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Other shareholder meetings are snoozefests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The milestones Musk must achieve over the next decade include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"sc-6f869981-0 diUlgm\">\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">Delivering 20 million Tesla vehicles and one million robots<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">Geting 10 million subscriptions to Tesla&#8217;s Full Self-Driving feature<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">Bringing one million self-driving Robotaxi vehicles into commercial operation<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">Earning up to $400bn in core profit<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">Eventually lifting Tesla&#8217;s overall market value to $8.5tn, currently $1.4tn<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He won&#8217;t receive a salary under the agreed deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">But meeting all the above milestones would see him awarded a stock grant of more than 400 million additional Tesla shares &#8211; worth around $1tn if the firm&#8217;s market value is raised high enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"59.092693565976\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Musk&#8217;s early remarks on Thursday placed the spotlight on the Optimus robot, dashing the hopes of some long-time analysts and Tesla watchers who want him to focus on reviving the company&#8217;s electric vehicle business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Optimus, unveiled as a prototype by the company in 2022, is designed to be an &#8220;autonomous humanoid robot&#8221; performing &#8220;unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Using the same artificial intelligence (AI) systems as those powering Tesla vehicles, it has been championed by Musk as central to his firm&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He&#8217;s previously said its ability to walk, run and lift items would allow it to play a key role in his factories &#8211; and in future, in homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Let it sink in where Musk&#8217;s head is at,&#8221; wrote analyst Gene Munster, the managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;His vision of the &#8216;new book&#8217; starts with Optimus. No mention of cars, FSD and robotaxi yet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Later, Musk did refer to FSD, shorthand for full-self driving, saying the company was &#8220;almost comfortable&#8221; allowing drivers to &#8220;text and drive essentially.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">US regulators are investigating Tesla&#8217;s self-driving feature after multiple incidents, in which the cars drove through red lights or on the wrong side of the road, some resulting in crashes and injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Tesla shares were slightly higher in after hours trading but have risen more than 62% over the last six months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Sales have slid in the year since Musk aligned himself with US President Donald Trump &#8211; a relationship that disintegrated this past spring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Tesla shareholder Ross Gerber told BBC News that Musk&#8217;s pay deal marks &#8220;another notch in the unbelievable things that you see in business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Musk has made clear his goals for Tesla but the company faces a slew of challenges, including its struggling financial performance, said Mr Gerber, who is the chief executive of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 gXrNRM\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"sc-5340b511-1 cMIbKV\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/KbOOnI.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/640\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 640w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1536\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp 1536w\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/fa6b\/live\/01ac1f30-bb5f-11f0-9872-515b67a0dae0.jpg.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Reuters Elon Musk wearing a blue suit and white shirt with his fingertips touching and resting on his lips against a black background\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"><span class=\"sc-5340b511-2 jVqbAn\">Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"26\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">It is still not clear if there will be a big demand for humanoid robots, said Mr Gerber. Tesla also faces stiff competition in the robotaxi industry from rivals like Waymo, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr Gerber said that his company recently lowered its stake in Tesla due to concerns over &#8220;the polarisation of [Musk&#8217;s] persona&#8221; which has &#8220;demolished the value of the brand&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Elon seems to be divorced from the reality that his opinion among the public is so low,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Wedbush Securities&#8217; Dan Ives, a tech analyst who has been a long-time advocate of Musk&#8217;s leadership of Tesla, called him &#8220;Tesla&#8217;s biggest asset&#8221; in a note published after the vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;We continue to believe that the AI valuation is getting unlocked, and we believe the march to an AI driven valuation for TSLA over the next 6-9 months has now begun,&#8221; Mr Ives added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"35.066961000736\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Ann Lipton, a law professor at the University of Colorado, said it was unclear whether Musk would achieve the targets set out by the company, but highlighted how he &#8220;hit those milestones ahead of schedule&#8221; in 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">She said his political interests had created some &#8220;polarisation&#8221;, but his pay package did not &#8220;put any constraints on his activities&#8221; outside of the company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Musk already held 13% of Tesla shares. Shareholders had twice ratified a pay package worth tens of billions of dollars if he achieved a tenfold increase in the company&#8217;s market value &#8211; which he did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">But a Delaware judge rejected that pay deal on grounds that Tesla board members were too close to Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Tesla reincorporated from Delaware to Texas, and the Delaware Supreme Court is currently reviewing the lower court judge&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The new pay package was rejected by several major institutional investors including Norway&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund &#8211; the world&#8217;s largest national wealth fund &#8211; and the California Public Employees&#8217; Retirement System (CalPERS) &#8211; the biggest public pension fund in the United States. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">That left Musk more reliant on Tesla&#8217;s unusually large volume of retail investors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Musk and his brother Kimbal, who also serves on the Tesla board, were both allowed to vote going into Thursday&#8217;s meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 gXrNRM\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"sc-5340b511-1 cMIbKV\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/KbOOnI.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/640\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 640w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1536\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp 1536w\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/456f\/live\/a85c3650-bb62-11f0-824f-39b3b0e3b0ee.jpg.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Reuters A Tesla Optimus robot next to a logo at the company\u2019s booth at the 8th China International Import Expo in Shanghai, China\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"><span class=\"sc-5340b511-2 jVqbAn\">Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-3b6b161a-0 dPVOKT\" readability=\"26\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">In recent weeks, members of Tesla&#8217;s board of directors have helped lobby for Musk&#8217;s new pay package with a marketing blitz that riled some corporate governance experts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A video posted to votetesla.com showed board chair Robyn Denholm and director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson praising Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Kathryn Hannon, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said the new pay deal would give Musk &#8220;increasing voting power over the company&#8221;, which he had long been requesting for a number of years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Elon Musk, whether you like him or not, he is a visionary in this space and I guess putting the correct governance and incentivisation structures around him to deliver this does align him, hopefully, with shareholders on that success journey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Published at Fri, 07 Nov 2025 10:03:09 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders 2 hours ago Lily Jamali,North America Technology correspondent, Liv McMahon,Technology reporter and Osmond Chia,Business reporter Tesla boss Elon Musk has had a record-breaking pay package that could be worth nearly $1tn (\u00a3760bn) approved by shareholders. The unprecedented deal was approved by 75% of votes and drew&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/elon-musks-1tn-pay-deal-approved-by-tesla-shareholders\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Elon Musk&#8217;s $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}