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Tesla shareholders gathered this Thursday to determine on a substantial remuneration plan for the company's leader valued at nearly $1 trillion. If approved, this plan would signal shareholder trust that the tech magnate can steer the car company into an age shaped by AI technology and robotics. Should it fail, Tesla could risk the exit of a visionary leader who once made the brand interchangeable with EVs.

Record-Breaking Goals and Market Capitalization

If the CEO meets the lofty milestones specified in the pay package introduced at Tesla's corporate assembly, he could emerge as the first-ever trillionaire. To reach this goal, he must steer Tesla to a astronomical $8.5 trillion in market value, which is 800% of its current valuation. Moreover, he will be required to deploy millions driverless automobiles and humanoid robots, while upholding the company's bottom line in the hundreds of billions of dollars throughout the coming ten years.

Compensation Structure

The primary objectives of the compensation plan, organized into twelve stages, chart a path for Tesla to attain its enormous worth. Upon achievement, Musk would be in a position to benefit from an further 12% of the corporation's shares. To be eligible, he must maintain involvement with the firm for at least 7.5 years. He will also contribute to forming a future leadership strategy for the business he has led for more than 20 years. The stock options awarded by the new compensation plan, in addition to shares guaranteed in his earlier deal, would result in Musk with 25 percent equity of Tesla's stock. As of early November, Tesla shares were valued approaching its annual peak, at roughly $450 per stock.

Lofty Goals

During a ten years, Musk will be required to manufacture 20 million EVs to customers, market 10 million active full self-driving subscriptions, develop and sell 1 million bipedal machines, and deploy 1 million robotaxis in paid operations.

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

By November, Musk's fortune was pegged at $460 billion, the leading in the world, according to wealth indexes.

Restoring a Invalidated Deal

Shareholders are furthermore considering a proposal that would remunerate Musk after his earlier remuneration deal was invalidated by a judicial body in Delaware. The compensation package, estimated to be $56 billion, was contested by a sole shareholder who prevailed in court. The Delaware court of chancery denied Musk's compensation plan twice. Should investors pass the plan in Thursday's vote, Musk is likely to be paid the huge sum regardless of if Tesla and Musk win an appeal of the legal matter.

After Musk's 2018 pay package was first rescinded, he relocated Tesla's corporate home out of Delaware and into Texas. He did the same with his aerospace company and other companies' headquarters. In last year, according to Texas regulations, shareholders once again voted to approve the remuneration deal.

But Delaware's so-called "court of equity" again denied one of the most substantial CEO compensation packages in modern history. Following that adverse judgment, Musk took to social media to voice displeasure with the region and its "prominent judicial figure", perhaps sparking a wave of business departures that Delaware legislators have sought to curb with legislation.

In reviewing whether Musk had excessive control in being awarded that earlier remuneration deal, a noted law professor commented that the court noted that other "celebrity leaders" like the Meta chief and Amazon's Jeff Bezos were not granted this sort of performance-linked deals.