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Investors in the electric car maker convened on Thursday to vote on a enormous pay deal for CEO Elon Musk estimated at nearly $1 trillion. If approved, this plan would showcase investor confidence that the billionaire can lead the car company into an age defined by artificial intelligence and advanced machinery. If rejected, Tesla could potentially face the loss of a pioneering CEO who once made the brand synonymous with zero-emission cars.

Historic Milestones and Company Valuation

If the CEO meets the formidable targets specified in the pay package introduced at Tesla's shareholder gathering, he could emerge as the world's first person with a trillion-dollar net worth. For this to happen, he must guide Tesla to a astronomical $8.5 trillion in company worth, which is 800% of its current valuation. Furthermore, he will be obligated to deploy countless autonomous vehicles and bipedal machines, while upholding the financial performance in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Payment Breakdown

The main goals of the compensation plan, organized into a dozen phases, chart a roadmap for Tesla to attain its massive market capitalization. If successful, Musk would be able to cash in an further 12% of the company's stock. To qualify, he must maintain involvement with the company for no less than 7.5 years. He will also help develop a long-term succession plan for the organization he has headed for over 20 years. The stock options offered by the updated remuneration deal, combined with shares assured in his 2018 package, would leave Musk with 25 percent equity of Tesla's stock. By the start of November, Tesla stock was trading approaching its 52-week high, at around $450 each share.

Lofty Goals

During a ten years, Musk will be tasked to produce 20 million zero-emission cars to customers, market 10 million live FSD memberships, produce and launch 1 million advanced androids, and introduce 1 million autonomous taxis in commercial service.

Musk will also be tasked to elevate the corporation to $400 billion in tangible revenue for four consecutive quarters. Tesla's tangible revenue for the July-September 2025 were $4.2 billion, down 9% from the year before.

In November, Musk's personal wealth was estimated at $460 billion, the leading in the planet, as reported by financial data.

Restoring a Invalidated Deal

Stockholders are furthermore reviewing a proposal that would remunerate Musk after his 2018 compensation plan was invalidated by a court in Delaware. The remuneration deal, worth an estimated $56 billion, was challenged by a single stockholder who prevailed in court. The state court dismissed Musk's pay package on multiple instances. If shareholders approve the proposal in Thursday's vote, Musk is expected to be awarded the substantial payout regardless of if Tesla and Musk win an appeal of the legal matter.

After Musk's previous compensation plan was initially invalidated, he moved Tesla's corporate home out of Delaware and into Texas. He did the same with his aerospace company and other business entities. In the previous year, under Texas law, shareholders again approved the compensation plan.

But Delaware's so-called "equity court" again ruled against one of the largest CEO pay deals in modern history. In the wake of that negative decision, Musk took to social media to express dissatisfaction with the jurisdiction and its "activist chief judge", possibly fueling a number of company relocations that Delaware lawmakers have attempted to staunch with legislation.

In considering whether Musk had undue influence in being awarded that previous compensation plan, a respected law professor commented that the court noted that other "superstar CEOs" like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and the Amazon founder were not granted this type of performance-linked deals.