Callum Jones
Tesla is proposing to offer Elon Musk a whopping $1 trillion, despite the car company's founder being one of the richest individuals on the planet.
While the SpaceX founder made a name for himself as the CEO of Tesla, his priorities have seemingly lied elsewhere in recent years.
The billionaire was a huge part of the POTUS' 2024 election campaign, and Donald Trump later recruited him to the new role of head of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) upon his return to the White House.
Musk remained in the role up until May, but it's since then that things have turned sour between him and the president as Musk criticized the 'big, beautiful bill'.
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A report from the Wall Street Journal earlier this year claimed the Tesla board had begun searching for a possible successor for Musk, with the current head honcho spending his time in government, as well as running Space X and the social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.
Both board chair Robyn Denholm and Musk have denied the report - and Musk stepped down from the Trump administration a short while after to focus his time on calling the shots at Tesla once more.
Now, the Tesla board of directors have unveiled a new pay package that could see Musk have up to 423.7 million additional shares of Tesla stock in the next decade if shareholders approve.
While these additional shares may be worth $148.7 billion as of Tesla's closing price on Friday’s, forecasts on the upper end predict Musk could pocket close to $1 trillion in a best case scenario for the billionaire.
It should be worth noting that Musk will only get these shares if Tesla becomes worth $8.5 trillion, which is eight times as much as it it today.
CNN reports that this is twice as much as any company has ever been worth.
During pay package negotiations, Musk apparently 'raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive such assurances'.
"[The board] believes that Mr. Musk singularly possesses the leadership characteristics necessary to transform Tesla and realize its long-term mission at an unparalleled level," CNN reports.
While Musk could be set for his biggest pay day yet in the coming years, the message is seemingly clear from the Tesla board: it's time for Musk to focus on Tesla.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, wrote: "The simple message the board is sending to Elon: ‘We want your attention on Tesla. Implicit in that message is the promise that he’ll have the control he’s been seeking (a 25% stake) and that it will be worth his time."