Elon Musk’s relationship with pay packages has always been outlandish by conventional corporate measures. Unlike the cash-heavy salaries and bonuses that structure most CEO contracts, Musk has repeatedly tied his fortune to Tesla’s ability to smash through aggressive milestones.
In Friday’s proxy, the committee said it had explored numerous alternatives, but ultimately decided to build upon the controversial 2018 package. Musk’s new goals include adjusted Ebitda targets (up to 28x higher than the 2018 milestone, per the committee) and new product rollouts, including 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation and delivery of 1 million AI bots.
Tesla’s board has found itself trapped in a predicament: Musk is simultaneously Tesla’s greatest asset and its greatest risk. The company’s extraordinary rise from an upstart carmaker to a global force in sustainable energy and transport has been fueled by his relentless ambition and uncanny ability to attract capital. He embodies the Tesla brand so thoroughly that investors and customers alike conflate the company’s trajectory with his own.
Underlying the trillion-dollar plan is a quieter, more existential question: Can Tesla truly outgrow Musk? For over a decade, it has been his vision, his risk appetite, and his brash style that defined the company. Yet most corporate giants eventually mature beyond their founding personalities, shifting power toward institutional structures and professional management.
Once again, Tesla’s board has sided with continuity, betting that the upside of locking Musk in outweighs the turbulence of pushing him aside. Still, the allure of Tesla has always rested in its improbable odds. A company dismissed in its infancy now shapes the future of global transportation. A CEO once thought reckless has become one of the richest men alive. And a pay package once unimaginable is back in play—only now, the number is no longer billions, but a trillion.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
