Tesla to award Musk an unparalleled $1 trillion depending on performance

The world’s richest person has consistently said he needs more of a stake in the company, even as a legal battle over his 2018 pay package – then valued at a mere US$56 billion – continues.

The regulatory filing puts Musk on a different plane than other technology executives, saying that “traditional compensation packages granted to executives at other companies were determined to not be appropriate for designing Musk’s incentive compensation”.

The proposed plan would grant Musk up to 12 per cent of Tesla’s stock, worth about US$1.03 trillion if the company hits its target market value of US$8.6 trillion. The plan requires boosting Tesla’s valuation nearly eightfold, or about US$7.5 trillion, over the next decade.

If fully earned, the award would materially increase Musk’s voting power from his roughly 13 per cent stake, intensifying debate over governance and succession.