(11/18-24) Elon Musk’s $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders

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1.Tesla boss Elon Musk has had a record-breaking pay package that could be worth nearly $1tn (£760bn) approved by shareholders. The unprecedented deal was approved by 75% of votes and drew huge applause from the audience at the firm’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

2.Musk, who is already the world’s richest man, must drastically raise the electric car firm’s market value over 10 years. If he does this and meets various targets, he will be rewarded with hundreds of millions of new shares. The scale of the potential payout has drawn criticism, but the Tesla board argued that Musk might leave the company if it was not approved – and that it could not afford to lose him.

3.Following the announcement, Musk took to the stage in Austin, Texas and danced to chants of his name. “What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book,” he said.

・What is your initial reaction to the potential value of Elon Musk’s pay package (nearly $1 trillion)? Do you think any single executive is truly worth a sum of this magnitude? Why or why not?

・The deal was approved by 75% of votes. Why do you think a majority of shareholders voted in favor, despite the scale of the payout? What factors might have driven their decision?

4.”Other shareholder meetings are snoozefests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick,” he added. The milestones Musk must achieve over the next decade include:

5.He won’t receive a salary under the agreed deal. But meeting all the above milestones would see him awarded a stock grant of more than 400 million additional Tesla shares – worth around $1tn if the firm’s market value is raised high enough.

6.Musk’s early remarks on Thursday placed the spotlight on the Optimus robot, dashing the hopes of some long-time analysts and Tesla watchers who want him to focus on reviving the company’s electric vehicle business. Optimus, unveiled as a prototype by the company in 2022, is designed to be an “autonomous humanoid robot” performing “unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks.”

・Review the specific targets Musk must achieve (20 million vehicles, 1 million robots, 10 million FSD subscriptions, $400 billion profit, $8.5 trillion market value). Which of these milestones do you believe is the most ambitious or least realistic?

・Japan’s taxi industry is mature and employs many senior drivers. If Robotaxis became widespread, what would be the economic and social impact on the existing pool of taxi drivers and the regional taxi companies in cities like Tokyo and Osaka?

7.Using the same artificial intelligence (AI) systems as those powering Tesla vehicles, it has been championed by Musk as central to his firm’s future. He’s previously said its ability to walk, run and lift items would allow it to play a key role in his factories – and in future, in homes.

8.”Let it sink in where Musk’s head is at,” wrote analyst Gene Munster, the managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, on X. “His vision of the ‘new book’ starts with Optimus. No mention of cars, FSD and robotaxi yet.” Later, Musk did refer to FSD, shorthand for full-self driving, saying the company was “almost comfortable” allowing drivers to “text and drive essentially.”

9.US regulators are investigating Tesla’s self-driving feature after multiple incidents, in which the cars drove through red lights or on the wrong side of the road, some resulting in crashes and injuries. Tesla shares were slightly higher in after hours trading but have risen more than 62% over the last six months. Sales have slid in the year since Musk aligned himself with US President Donald Trump – a relationship that disintegrated this past spring.