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Investors in the electric car maker assembled on Thursday to vote on a massive remuneration plan for CEO Elon Musk estimated at around $1 trillion. Upon approval, this plan would demonstrate shareholder trust that the entrepreneur can guide the car company into an era shaped by AI technology and advanced machinery. Should it fail, Tesla could potentially face the departure of a visionary leader who historically built the brand interchangeable with zero-emission cars.

Record-Breaking Targets and Market Capitalization

Should Musk achieve the ambitious milestones outlined in the remuneration deal revealed at Tesla's corporate assembly, he could become the first-ever trillionaire. To accomplish this, he must lead Tesla to a staggering $8.5 trillion in company worth, which is eight times its existing market cap. Furthermore, he will be tasked to deploy millions self-driving cars and bipedal machines, while upholding the corporate profits in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Reward System

The key aims of the pay package, divided into a dozen phases, chart a trajectory for Tesla to reach its enormous valuation. Should targets be met, Musk would be able to cash in an further 12% of the corporation's shares. To qualify, he must maintain involvement with the company for a minimum of 7.5 years. He will also assist in creating a long-term succession plan for the organization he has managed for over 20 years. The equity incentives awarded by the latest pay package, in addition to shares promised in his previous compensation plan, would grant Musk with a quarter stake of Tesla's stock. As of early November, Tesla stock was trading near its annual peak, at around $450 per stock.

Formidable Objectives

Over the course of a decade, Musk will be required to manufacture 20 million zero-emission cars to buyers, sell 10 million operational autonomous driving plans, create and distribute 1 million humanoid robots, and launch 1 million self-driving cabs in revenue-generating use.

Musk will furthermore be tasked to elevate the company to $400 billion in actual earnings for four consecutive quarters. Tesla's actual earnings for the third quarter of 2025 were $4.2 billion, down 9% from the year before.

By November, Musk's fortune was valued at $460 billion, the leading in the planet, based on wealth indexes.

Reinstating a Rescinded Deal

Investors are additionally considering a plan that would compensate Musk after his 2018 compensation plan was voided by a legal authority in Delaware. The compensation package, estimated to be $56 billion, was contested by a single stockholder who prevailed in court. The Delaware court of chancery denied Musk's pay package on two occasions. If shareholders approve the arrangement in the Thursday ballot, Musk is expected to be awarded the huge sum whether or not Tesla and Musk win an appeal of the lawsuit.

Subsequent to Musk's previous compensation plan was first rescinded, he transferred Tesla's legal headquarters out of Delaware and into Texas. He did the same with SpaceX and additional corporate bases. In 2024, under Texas law, shareholders for a second time approved the compensation plan.

But Delaware's often referred to as "court of equity" once again denied one of the largest CEO pay deals in contemporary business. Following that unfavorable ruling, Musk took to social media to show frustration with the state and its "activist chief judge", possibly sparking a number of company relocations that Delaware lawmakers have attempted to staunch with new laws.

In reviewing whether Musk had undue influence in being granted that previous compensation plan, a prominent academic expert observed that the judicial authority acknowledged that other "high-profile executives" like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and the e-commerce pioneer were not awarded this type of performance-linked deals.