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Tesla shareholders convened on Thursday to vote on a massive pay deal for Chief Executive Elon Musk valued at around $1 trillion. Should it pass, this deal would demonstrate market faith that the tech magnate can lead the car company into an era shaped by AI technology and automation. If denied, Tesla could potentially face the loss of a key figure who previously established the brand equivalent with EVs.

Record-Breaking Milestones and Market Capitalization

Upon reaching the ambitious milestones detailed in the pay package introduced at Tesla's shareholder gathering, he could be crowned the pioneering person with a trillion-dollar net worth. To reach this goal, he must steer Tesla to a staggering $8.5 trillion in market capitalization, which is 800% of its existing market cap. Additionally, he will be tasked to deploy numerous driverless automobiles and humanoid robots, while maintaining the company's bottom line in the hundreds of billions in the upcoming decade.

Reward System

The main goals of the pay package, split into twelve stages, outline a path for Tesla to achieve its colossal valuation. Upon achievement, Musk would be eligible to cash in an extra 12% of the corporation's shares. To qualify, he must remain vested with the corporation for at least 7.5 years. Furthermore, he is required to assist in creating a long-term succession plan for the enterprise he has headed for more than 20 years. The equity incentives awarded by the new compensation plan, alongside shares guaranteed in his earlier deal, would leave Musk with 25 percent equity of Tesla's stock. In early November, Tesla stock was trading close to its annual peak, at around $450 per share.

Lofty Goals

Over the course of a decade, Musk will be required to produce 20 million electric vehicles to consumers, sell 10 million operational autonomous driving plans, create and distribute 1 million advanced androids, and introduce 1 million self-driving cabs in revenue-generating use.

Musk will additionally be tasked to increase the corporation to $400 billion in tangible revenue for four straight quarters. Tesla's tangible revenue for the Q3 2025 were $4.2 billion, down 9% from the same period last year.

As of November, Musk's personal wealth was valued at $460 billion, the leading in the globe, as reported by market tracking.

Restoring a Invalidated Deal

Shareholders are also reviewing a proposal that would compensate Musk after his previous pay package was overturned by a judicial body in Delaware. The remuneration deal, valued at around $56 billion, was challenged by a single stockholder who succeeded legally. The state court dismissed Musk's remuneration deal on multiple instances. Upon stockholder approval the proposal in the Thursday ballot, Musk is set to be granted the huge sum regardless of if Tesla and Musk succeed in appealing of the legal matter.

Subsequent to Musk's 2018 pay package was initially invalidated, he moved Tesla's business registration to Texas from Delaware. He repeated the action with the rocket firm and additional corporate bases. In last year, per Texas statutes, shareholders again approved the compensation plan.

But Delaware's known as "judicial body" again rejected one of the biggest CEO payouts in modern history. After that negative decision, Musk took to social media to voice displeasure with the region and its "prominent judicial figure", arguably sparking a series of corporate exits that Delaware legislators have tried to stop with regulatory measures.

In reviewing whether Musk had excessive control in being granted that previous compensation plan, a respected legal scholar observed that the judge acknowledged that other "celebrity leaders" like the Meta chief and Amazon's Jeff Bezos were not given this kind of goal-oriented agreements.