Automotive industry Elon Musk gets the green light for mega share package
Tesla boss Elon Musk is being offered the prospect of a huge share package worth one trillion dollars. More than 75 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the compensation plan, under which the electric car manufacturer must meet various targets in order for Musk to receive the shares.
06.11.2025, 23:11
07.11.2025, 02:36
SDA
Musk had threatened to resign as head of Tesla if the plan fell through. The package could be worth around one trillion US dollars - at least if the car manufacturer is worth the hoped-for 8.5 trillion dollars on the stock market in ten years' time. The current stock market value is just under 1.5 trillion dollars. With such an increase in value, the value of the shares that Musk already owns would also break the trillion mark. The 54-year-old is already the richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of more than 470 billion dollars.
The new shares would increase Musk's stake in Tesla to around 25 percent. Among the conditions for granting the shares is that Musk remains in the boardroom for the decade - and that Tesla has one million Robotaxis in use and delivers one million AI robots.
Acceptance of the plan did not seem guaranteed: The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and two influential advisory firms that make recommendations to shareholders, among others, were against it. However, Musk enjoys cult status among a large number of Tesla's small shareholders.
Target of 20 million Teslas sold
In total, Musk could receive up to 423.74 million Tesla shares - in twelve stages, most of which are linked to increments of an additional 500 billion dollars in market capitalization. Added to this are the business targets, such as the delivery of a total of 20 million Teslas with a market capitalization of two trillion dollars. So far, Tesla has put around 8.5 million cars on the road since it was founded - and a good 1.8 million of them in 2023, its best year to date.
An even bigger hurdle could be to break through the $400 billion mark per year in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in addition to the $6.5 trillion market capitalization. With a market capitalization of four trillion dollars, an adjusted EBITDA of 50 billion dollars is initially on the agenda.
Robyn Denholm, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, emphasized that Musk would come away empty-handed if Tesla did not meet its targets. The tech billionaire himself says that he is more interested in increasing his Tesla stake to 25 percent and thus securing his influence in the company than the money.
The shareholder proposal that Tesla should invest in Musk's AI company xAI received more approval than rejection - but with many abstentions. Tesla will now weigh this up further, it said.
Focus on robots and robotaxis
Tesla - the electric car pioneer that caused the industry to embark on an expensive race to catch up a few years ago - has recently appeared disenchanted and is heading for its second year of declining sales. Musk, on the other hand, argues that Tesla's future lies in self-driving robotaxis and humanoid robots anyway.
The tech billionaire even claims that the company's "Optimus" robots have the potential to become the "greatest product of all time". In time, he believes there could be tens of billions of the robots in use. Humanoid robots are the only way to end poverty, says the billionaire. A few weeks ago, Musk also announced: "Optimus will be an incredible surgeon." At the AGM, he also fantasized that "Optimus" robots could follow humans and prevent them from committing crimes.
Musk hopes to start production of the robots next year. With a targeted output of one million robots, the production price will be around 20,000 dollars, he said.
Control over "robot army"
Musk links his demand for a 25 percent stake directly to control over the new technology. "If we build this robot army - will I at least have a strong influence on this robot army?" he said a few days ago. Otherwise, he is not comfortable with the idea.
If Musk is primarily concerned with influence in the company and not money, couldn't Tesla have simply given him some shares with additional voting rights? After all, at tech heavyweights such as Google and the Facebook group Meta, a system with different types of shares has ensured control by the founders for years. Denholm said on the business channel CNBC that this would only have been possible before Tesla's IPO.
Musk promises millions of Robotaxis
According to Musk, Tesla plans to start production of a new Robotaxi vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals in April next year. He hopes to be able to build up to five million of the cars per year on one production line thanks to a high level of automation. However, it is still unclear whether his plan to implement autonomous driving using only cameras will work out in the end.
Competitors such as Google's sister company Waymo also use more expensive laser radars to scan the vehicle's surroundings for greater safety. Although Tesla has a cost advantage with Musk's approach, there are questions about the reliability of the technology in difficult visibility conditions, among other things.
Earlier remuneration plan already controversial
There was a great deal of controversy surrounding Musk's last major remuneration plan. Tesla met all the targets set at the time for a share package promised to him in 2018. However, a court in the state of Delaware, where Tesla was formally based at the time, ruled that Musk had too much influence on the Board of Directors when the plan was agreed and that the shareholders had not been sufficiently informed about this. The appeal proceedings are still ongoing. Tesla subsequently moved its headquarters to Texas and set a hurdle for shareholder lawsuits: they must have a stake of at least three percent.
