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Investors in the electric car maker gathered on Thursday to decide on a substantial compensation package for CEO Elon Musk valued at close to $1 trillion. Upon approval, this plan would showcase shareholder trust that the billionaire can guide the car company into an age defined by machine learning and robotics. If rejected, Tesla could confront the exit of a key figure who historically built the brand interchangeable with electric vehicles.

Historic Milestones and Market Capitalization

If the CEO meets the ambitious milestones outlined in the pay package revealed at Tesla's corporate assembly, he could emerge as the pioneering trillionaire. To reach this goal, he must guide Tesla to a staggering $8.5 trillion in market value, which is an eightfold increase its current valuation. Additionally, he will be tasked to deploy countless driverless automobiles and bipedal machines, while maintaining the corporate profits in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Compensation Structure

The primary objectives of the pay package, organized into twelve stages, chart a path for Tesla to achieve its colossal worth. Should targets be met, Musk would be eligible to benefit from an extra 12% of the firm's equity. For this to occur, he must remain vested with the company for no less than 7.5 years. Additionally, he must contribute to forming a long-term succession plan for the business he has headed for more than 20 years. The equity incentives provided by the new compensation plan, alongside shares assured in his previous compensation plan, would grant Musk with 25% ownership of Tesla's stock. As of early November, Tesla shares were valued near its yearly maximum, at approximately $450 per stock.

Ambitious Targets

During a ten-year period, Musk will be obligated to manufacture 20 million electric vehicles to buyers, market 10 million live FSD memberships, create and distribute 1 million bipedal machines, and introduce 1 million robotaxis in paid operations.

Musk will furthermore be obligated to elevate the firm to $400 billion in tangible revenue for four consecutive quarters. Tesla's tangible revenue for the third quarter of 2025 were $4.2 billion, 9 percent lower from the previous year.

As of November, Musk's net worth was valued at $460 billion, the highest in the world, as reported by wealth indexes.

Reinstating a Invalidated Deal

Investors are also reviewing a proposal that would remunerate Musk after his previous pay package was invalidated by a judicial body in Delaware. The compensation package, valued at around $56 billion, was disputed by a sole shareholder who won his case. The Delaware court of chancery rejected Musk's pay package twice. Should investors pass the plan in Thursday's vote, Musk is expected to be awarded the huge sum regardless of if Tesla and Musk win an appeal of the case.

Following Musk's previous compensation plan was originally overturned, he transferred Tesla's legal headquarters out of Delaware and into Texas. He repeated the action with his aerospace company and other business entities. In the previous year, under Texas law, shareholders once again voted to approve the compensation plan.

But Delaware's known as "court of equity" once again ruled against one of the biggest CEO payouts in modern history. In the wake of that adverse judgment, Musk took to social media to show frustration with the jurisdiction and its "influential presiding justice", possibly sparking a wave of business departures that Delaware legislators have attempted to staunch with regulatory measures.

In considering whether Musk had improper sway in being awarded that previous compensation plan, a noted academic expert commented that the judge acknowledged that other "celebrity leaders" like Facebook's founder and the Amazon founder were not awarded this type of incentive-based contracts.