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Tesla shareholders gathered this Thursday to decide on a enormous pay deal for the company's leader estimated at nearly $1 trillion. Should it pass, this plan would signal market faith that the tech magnate can steer the automaker into an age dominated by machine learning and advanced machinery. Should it fail, Tesla could potentially face the loss of a key figure who historically built the company name synonymous with EVs.

Record-Breaking Goals and Market Capitalization

Should Musk achieve the lofty targets specified in the compensation plan revealed at Tesla's shareholder gathering, he could emerge as the first-ever person with a trillion-dollar net worth. For this to happen, he must steer Tesla to a monumental $8.5 trillion in company worth, which is 800% of its existing market cap. Moreover, he will be required to roll out countless self-driving cars and advanced androids, while sustaining the corporate profits in the hundreds of billions over the next decade.

Reward System

The main goals of the compensation plan, split into a dozen phases, outline a path for Tesla to achieve its colossal worth. If successful, Musk would be able to cash in an additional 12% of the firm's equity. To qualify, he must maintain involvement with the company for no less than 7.5 years. Additionally, he must assist in creating a corporate transition roadmap for the business he has managed for more than 20 years. The equity incentives offered by the updated remuneration deal, combined with shares guaranteed in his earlier deal, would grant Musk with 25% ownership of Tesla's shares. By the start of November, Tesla shares were valued close to its 52-week high, at approximately $450 per stock.

Ambitious Targets

During a ten years, Musk will be tasked to manufacture 20 million EVs to buyers, distribute 10 million active full self-driving subscriptions, create and distribute 1 million advanced androids, and introduce 1 million autonomous taxis in commercial service.

Musk will furthermore be tasked to increase the firm to $400 billion in tangible revenue for four consecutive quarters. Tesla's actual earnings for the third quarter of 2025 were $4.2 billion, a 9% decrease from the previous year.

By November, Musk's fortune was estimated at $460 billion, the leading in the globe, as reported by financial data.

Reviving a Rescinded Plan

Investors are also evaluating a arrangement that would remunerate Musk after his 2018 compensation plan was overturned by a judicial body in Delaware. The compensation package, estimated to be $56 billion, was contested by a single stockholder who succeeded legally. The Delaware court of chancery rejected Musk's pay package on multiple instances. If shareholders approve the proposal in the shareholder meeting, Musk is expected to be awarded the huge sum regardless of if Tesla and Musk overturn the ruling of the legal matter.

Subsequent to Musk's previous compensation plan was first rescinded, he relocated Tesla's corporate home from Delaware to Texas. He repeated the action with his aerospace company and additional corporate bases. In last year, per Texas statutes, shareholders for a second time approved the compensation plan.

But Delaware's so-called "equity court" for a second time denied one of the most substantial CEO compensation packages in recent times. After that negative decision, Musk used online platforms to express dissatisfaction with the state and its "activist chief judge", perhaps sparking a number of company relocations that Delaware lawmakers have sought to curb with legislation.

In reviewing whether Musk had undue influence in being awarded that 2018 pay package, a respected legal scholar commented that the judicial authority recognized that other "high-profile executives" like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos were not awarded this sort of goal-oriented agreements.