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Investors in the electric car maker gathered this Thursday to vote on a massive remuneration plan for CEO Elon Musk valued at nearly $1 trillion. If approved, this plan would signal investor confidence that the tech magnate can lead the automaker into an period shaped by machine learning and robotics. Should it fail, Tesla could risk the departure of a pioneering CEO who previously established the company name synonymous with zero-emission cars.

Record-Breaking Milestones and Company Valuation

If the CEO meets the ambitious targets outlined in the pay package introduced at Tesla's annual meeting, he could emerge as the first-ever person with a trillion-dollar net worth. For this to happen, he must guide Tesla to a staggering $8.5 trillion in market capitalization, which is 800% of its existing market cap. Moreover, he will be tasked to launch numerous self-driving cars and humanoid robots, while maintaining the corporate profits in the hundreds of billions of dollars throughout the coming ten years.

Payment Breakdown

The primary objectives of the pay package, organized into a dozen phases, chart a path for Tesla to attain its massive worth. If successful, Musk would be in a position to cash in an further 12% of the corporation's shares. To be eligible, he must maintain involvement with the company for a minimum of 7.5 years. Furthermore, he is required to assist in creating a future leadership strategy for the business he has headed for more than 20 years. The share grants awarded by the updated remuneration deal, combined with shares guaranteed in his previous compensation plan, would result in Musk with 25% ownership of Tesla's stock. In early November, Tesla equity was priced close to its annual peak, at around $450 per share.

Ambitious Targets

Throughout a decade, Musk will be tasked to manufacture 20 million EVs to consumers, distribute 10 million operational autonomous driving plans, create and distribute 1 million advanced androids, and launch 1 million autonomous taxis in paid operations.

Musk will additionally be obligated to increase the company to $400 billion in actual earnings for four straight quarters. Tesla's real profits for the third quarter of 2025 were $4.2 billion, 9 percent lower from the year before.

By November, Musk's fortune was pegged at $460 billion, the leading in the planet, according to market tracking.

Restoring a Rescinded Package

Stockholders are also considering a proposal that would compensate Musk after his 2018 compensation plan was overturned by a legal authority in Delaware. The compensation package, estimated to be $56 billion, was disputed by a sole shareholder who succeeded legally. The Delaware court of chancery dismissed Musk's compensation plan on multiple instances. Upon stockholder approval the plan in the shareholder meeting, Musk is set to be paid the substantial payout irrespective of whether Tesla and Musk win an appeal of the lawsuit.

After Musk's earlier remuneration deal was initially invalidated, he relocated Tesla's corporate home from Delaware to Texas. He repeated the action with SpaceX and additional corporate bases. In 2024, according to Texas regulations, shareholders for a second time voted to approve the remuneration deal.

But Delaware's often referred to as "court of equity" for a second time ruled against one of the largest CEO payouts in recent times. Following that negative decision, Musk used online platforms to voice displeasure with the state and its "influential presiding justice", possibly sparking a series of corporate exits that Delaware officials have sought to curb with new laws.

In evaluating whether Musk had excessive control in being given that 2018 pay package, a respected academic expert remarked that the court noted that other "high-profile executives" like Facebook's founder and the Amazon founder were not awarded this sort of incentive-based contracts.