Is Elon Musk worth $1 trillion? Shareholders get to decide

Tesla shareholders have just days left to vote on whether to approve a staggering pay package for chief executive Elon Musk that could award him nearly $1 trillion in shares.

Musk could leave the company if shareholders reject the package, board chair Robyn Denholm warned in a letter to voters last week. The pay proposal is tied to ambitious performance goals and is necessary to incentivize Musk to continue his work, Denholm said.

Tesla will hold its annual meeting Thursday. Shareholders have until 11:59 pm ET on Wednesday to vote on the pay plan, which was unveiled by the board in September.

“If we fail to foster an environment that motivates Elon to achieve great things through an equitable pay-for-performance plan, we run the risk that he gives up his executive position,” Denholm wrote in an Oct. 27 letter. “Tesla may lose his time, talent and vision, which have been essential to delivering extraordinary shareholder returns.”

Musk is already among the world’s highest-paid executives, with compensation that dwarfs that of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Palantir’s Alexander Karp. Musk is also Tesla’s largest individual shareholder with about 13% of shares, but has said repeatedly he would like more voting power over the company.

In an earnings call last month, Musk said he wants a significant stake in the company as he pivots toward artificial intelligence and continues to develop his humanoid robot dubbed Optimus.

“If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army?” Musk said to analysts. “I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army if I don’t have at least a strong influence.”

If approved, the new pay plan would give Musk more than a 25% stake in the company for meeting specific milestones. The first milestone is reaching a $2-trillion valuation for Tesla, which is currently valued at around $1.5 trillion.

The milestones increase incrementally up to an $8.5-trillion company valuation and also include product goals, such as delivering 20 million vehicles, deploying 1 million robotaxis for commercial operation and garnering 10 million full self-drive subscriptions.

In her letter, Denholm described the package as “a highly customized performance plan that aligns shareholder value and measurable business outcomes with the interests of our CEO.”

Tesla is at a turning point as it banks its future on autonomous driving technology and becomes less reliant on its traditional electric vehicles after a year of rocky sales, experts said.

Interest in electric vehicles has been faltering as the Trump administration hammers away at federal incentives to go electric and declares steep auto tariffs. Last month, Tesla’s quarterly profit plunged 31% year-over-year.

Still, the company’s shares are up 22% this year, even after Musk triggered a Tesla brand crisis with his temporary stint in the White House. Shares were up more than 2% on Monday, days ahead of the voting deadline.

Musk is essential to Tesla’s operations and its transition into an artificial intelligence powerhouse, the board of directors said. The proposed pay plan is fair because it’s dependent on the company’s overall success, they said.

“Elon is rewarded only if and when he delivers extraordinary performance that benefits all Tesla shareholders,” Denholm wrote in October.

A Reuters analysis found that Musk could pocket more than $50 billion by meeting just a few of the board’s less-ambitious performance goals.

Musk is known to over-promise, and has been exaggerating the abilities of his autonomous tech for nearly a decade. He described self-driving cars as a “solved problem” in 2015, though the 2025 rollout of Tesla robotaxis in Austin, Texas, struggled with glitches.

The proposed pay plan could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Several groups, including unions, corporate watchdogs and proxy advisory firms, have publicly opposed the pay package.