Jan 23, 2018 - Energy & Climate

Elon Musk's pay package as Tesla CEO could be worth $55 billion

Shannon Vavra

Elon Musk has agreed to be CEO of Tesla for the next decade and could earn as much as $55 billion in stock awards, but “will be paid only if he reaches a series of jaw-dropping milestones based on the company’s market value and operations. Otherwise, he will be paid nothing,” NYT’s Andrew Ross Sorkin writes.

“Tesla has set a dozen targets, each $50 billion more than the next, starting at $100 billion, then $150 billion, then $200 billion and so on, all the way to a market value of $650 billion.”

Tesla is worth about $59 billion today. Reaching a market value of $650 billion would make Tesla one of the five largest companies in the U.S.
Musk's "stock award could be worth as much as $55 billion" if he hits that valuation goal. Sorkin notes a sum this high is unlikely.
Tesla organized a similar setup in 2012 when the company was worth $3.2 billion. Musk met each milestone except for one on the way, per the NYT.
Critics will be quick to say this is “just the company’s latest publicity stunt... The company continues to lose money; at one point last year, it was losing almost a half-million dollars an hour.”

Shareholder impact: “if Mr. Musk is gaining billions then shareholders are winning, too. And if Mr. Musk does not perform, shareholders pay nothing.”
Bottom line for Musk: “I want to contribute as much as possible to humanity becoming a multi-planet species,” he said, alluding to a goal he has talked about often, including having people live on Mars. “That obviously requires a certain amount of capital.”

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Elon Musk's pay package as Tesla CEO could be worth $55 billion

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