Elon Musk: Trillionaire Tesla pay package is about influence, not wealth

Max Headroom 2025.09.25 2 min read

Elon Musk recently addressed his proposed Tesla 2025 CEO Performance Award on X, highlighting that his concerns are about influence, not personal wealth.

The 2025 CEO Performance Award, worth up to $900 billion in TSLA stock, could make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, provided that he hits incredibly ambitious targets for the electric vehicle maker.

Tesla’s ambitious targets

Musk shared his thoughts in a response to an X post that referenced his compensation package. “It’s not about ‘compensation,’ but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.

“If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future,” Musk wrote in his post.

Tesla’s new performance award would grant Musk shares as the company grows from today’s $1.1 trillion valuation to an incredible $8.5 trillion within a decade. At that level, Tesla would become the world’s largest company by valuation by a notable margin, eclipsing today’s top companies such as Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

It’s not about “compensation”, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.

If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2025

Massive product goals

Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award will not be easy to accomplish. To earn his award, Musk would have to lead Tesla an operating profit of $400 billion anually, a substantial increase from today’s $17 billion annually.

Musk’s influence would grow alongside Tesla’s valuation, with his stake rising from 13% to about 25%. Tesla’s board emphasized in its filing that retaining Musk is fundamental to hitting these milestones.

The package extends beyond financials, as it also ties compensation to milestones in Tesla’s core products and emerging technologies. These include the delivery of 20 million vehicles cumulatively, 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and the deployment of 1 million robots, and the rollout of 1 million Robotaxis.

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