The world's richest person, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has unveiled a new compensation plan that could pay him up to $1 trillion (approximately 1,400 trillion won) in stocks.
According to local U.S. media, on the 6th (local time), Tesla's board of directors disclosed the performance compensation proposal to be paid to Musk through shareholder meeting proxy documents submitted to financial authorities. This agenda will be put to a vote at Tesla's annual shareholders meeting on Nov. 6.
This compensation plan includes provisions for 420 million shares, equivalent to 12% of Tesla's total common stock (adjusted figures), to be given to Musk over 10 years in 12 stages by 2035.
Although not specified in Tesla's documents, U.S. media forecasted that if Musk meets all performance and stock price targets, the total value of the shares he would receive could be around $1 trillion.
U.S. media reported that Musk could become the first CEO in American history to surpass billionaires and become a 'trillionaire.' If this compensation plan is executed, the amount reported as CEO compensation on Tesla's financial statements this year is expected to be substantial.
Tesla's board stated that the new stock compensation expense (preliminary total fair value estimate) is approximately $88 billion.
Courtney Yu, research director at compensation analysis firm Equilar, noted, "If combined with the stock compensation amount exceeding $20 billion announced last August, Tesla could report Musk's total compensation for 2025 at around $114 billion (approximately 158.4 trillion won)," adding, "This would become the highest-level compensation package ever."
This amounts to several times the compensation package for Musk from 2018, which is currently under legal dispute and was valued at $2.3 billion.
U.S. media forecasted that Tesla's current compensation plan is designed to significantly boost Tesla's stock price and is expected to be popular among shareholders.
To receive the compensation, Musk must first achieve a market capitalization of $2 trillion at Tesla, exceed the phased target amounts, and ultimately reach a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion.
Musk must work at Tesla for at least 7.5 years to cash in a portion of the shares he receives in stages, and over 10 years to receive all the stocks.
After acquiring the stocks, Musk cannot sell them for several years, but he can exercise voting rights immediately at the shareholders' meeting, thereby strengthening his control over the company. U.S. media reported that Musk's equity stake could rise from the current 13% to as much as 29% with the future acquisition of compensation shares.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) last January, Musk stated, "It's uncomfortable to grow Tesla into a leader in AI and robotics without 25% of voting rights (equity)," threatening to leave Tesla if he could not hold such an equity stake.