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Investors in the electric car maker gathered this Thursday to vote on a substantial remuneration plan for Chief Executive Elon Musk worth approximately nearly $1 trillion. Upon approval, this deal would showcase market faith that the tech magnate can guide the car company into an age shaped by machine learning and automation. If denied, Tesla could confront the departure of a key figure who historically built the company name equivalent with zero-emission cars.

Record-Breaking Targets and Market Capitalization

Should Musk achieve the formidable milestones outlined in the remuneration deal introduced at Tesla's shareholder gathering, he could emerge as the world's first trillionaire. To accomplish this, he must guide Tesla to a staggering $8.5 trillion in market value, which is 800% of its current valuation. Additionally, he will be tasked to roll out countless autonomous vehicles and bipedal machines, while upholding the financial performance in the hundreds of billions of dollars in the upcoming decade.

Compensation Structure

The key aims of the pay package, divided into 12 tranches, chart a path for Tesla to reach its massive market capitalization. Upon achievement, Musk would be in a position to cash in an extra 12% of the firm's equity. For this to occur, he must stay committed with the corporation for at least 7.5 years. Furthermore, he is required to help develop a long-term succession plan for the enterprise he has headed for in excess of 20 years. The stock options awarded by the updated remuneration deal, alongside shares promised in his previous compensation plan, would grant Musk with a quarter stake of Tesla's stock. In early November, Tesla shares were valued approaching its annual peak, at approximately $450 per stock.

Lofty Goals

During a ten-year period, Musk will be required to manufacture 20 million zero-emission cars to customers, sell 10 million live FSD memberships, develop and sell 1 million humanoid robots, and deploy 1 million self-driving cabs in commercial service.

Musk will also be tasked to elevate the company to $400 billion in actual earnings for four straight quarters. Tesla's actual earnings for the Q3 2025 were $4.2 billion, a 9% decrease from the same period last year.

As of November, Musk's net worth was pegged at $460 billion, the top in the globe, based on market tracking.

Reinstating a Invalidated Package

Investors are furthermore considering a plan that would compensate Musk after his previous pay package was overturned by a court in Delaware. The pay plan, valued at around $56 billion, was contested by a individual investor who won his case. The Delaware court of chancery rejected Musk's compensation plan on two occasions. Upon stockholder approval the plan in Thursday's vote, Musk is set to be granted the substantial payout irrespective of whether Tesla and Musk overturn the ruling of the case.

Following Musk's earlier remuneration deal was first rescinded, he relocated Tesla's corporate home from Delaware to Texas. He followed suit with his aerospace company and other business entities. In 2024, according to Texas regulations, shareholders once again passed the pay package.

But Delaware's so-called "equity court" for a second time denied one of the biggest CEO payouts in recent times. In the wake of that unfavorable ruling, Musk posted on his accounts to voice displeasure with the jurisdiction and its "prominent judicial figure", arguably igniting a wave of business departures that Delaware lawmakers have attempted to staunch with legislation.

In evaluating whether Musk had undue influence in being given that previous compensation plan, a prominent law professor commented that the judge acknowledged that other "high-profile executives" like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos were not given this type of incentive-based contracts.