Tesla shareholders have approved a record-setting pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could be worth as much as $1 trillion, in a move widely seen as a referendum on his leadership and his vision to shift the company’s focus to AI and humanoid robots.
The proposal passed with more than 75 per cent of votes cast at the company’s shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. Musk took the stage flanked by dancing Optimus robots to chants of “Elon! Elon!”, reports The Verge.
“What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla but a whole new book,” Musk told the crowd.
The package, described by some as a “moonshot” award, could increase Musk’s stake in Tesla from its current 15 per cent to as much as 25 per cent. To receive the full compensation, Musk must hit a series of audacious milestones over the next 10 years, including:
- Increasing Tesla’s market cap from its current $1.5 trillion to $8.5 trillion.
- Selling one million humanoid robots.
- Putting one million robotaxis into service.
- Reaching 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
In the run-up to the vote, Musk had threatened on social media to leave Tesla if the measure was rejected, reports The Wall Street Journal. He argued he wanted a larger stake to ensure the “robot army” he was developing didn’t “fall into the wrong hands.”
The vote comes at a time of upheaval for the automaker. Tesla’s vehicle sales fell more than 13 per cent in the first half of 2025, reports The Wall Street Journal. This steep drop in sales has been linked to a nationwide protest movement sparked by Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency and his support for President Donald Trump, reports The Verge.
Due to the controversial nature of the “astronomical” stock award, the measure was hotly debated, reports The Wall Street Journal. It was opposed by several major proxy advisers, including Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, and institutional investors like CalPERs, Norges Bank Investment Management, and the New York City retirement systems.
The new package also arrives while Musk’s 2018 pay package, valued at over $50 billion, is still tied up in the Delaware Supreme Court. A lower court judge rescinded that package in January 2024, ruling that Tesla’s directors were “beholden to Musk” and that the approval process was “tainted” and lacked transparency, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Spurred by that ruling, shareholders on Thursday also approved Musk’s proposal to move Tesla’s legal home from Delaware to Texas.
