He’s already claimed the title of world’s richest man, but Elon Musk could soon be on track to dwarf his current fortune by becoming the world’s very first trillionaire.
Currently boasting an estimated wealth of around $491 billion, Musk could see his finances skyrocket to $1 trillion, if Tesla can meet some ambitious goals over the next ten years.
The record-breaking pay package was approved by 75 percent of the Tesla board earlier this week and marks the largest ever corporate pay package in history.
Yet meeting the criteria to achieve such a wage isn’t going to be easy, as Musk must now meet a string of highly ambitious criteria laid by the board of executives to make him worth such a high investment.
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For each step that Musk manages to complete, he will be rewarded with more Tesla shares and, in the process, massively increase his stake in the company.
At present, he owns roughly 13 percent, but this could potentially jump up to 29 percent if he manages to complete all of the conditions set out by the Tesla board.
This extra share stake could be worth $1 trillion in total if Tesla’s overall valuation continues to remain high.
However, even if Musk doesn’t manage to complete all the conditions, even just some of them, will be enough to massively increase his wealth.
So, what exactly does Musk need to do?
Deliver 20 million Tesla vehicles
One of the key components of the new agreement is to deliver 20 million Tesla vehicles over the next decade.
This means massively increasing the output of the company to more than double, as over the last 12 years, Tesla has produced around seven million vehicles in total.
Initially starting out with just 3,000 cars in 2012, demand for the hi-tech vehicles has risen year on year, with 1,773,443 produced in 2024 alone.
Tackling profitability
Another key aspect of the deal will require Musk to dramatically increase the company’s overall value and operating profits.
Although no details have yet been released about how he plans to do this, it is thought that key areas he could address are bringing down operating costs, increasing supercharging fees, or focusing on targeted advertising campaigns, such as during the Super Bowl.
Build and supply AI-powered robots
Since stepping into the technology sphere over a decade ago, both Musk and Tesla have championed innovation as part of their standard practice.
This has seen both the man himself and his company focusing on new developments within the areas of artificial intelligence and robotics, in a quest to find the perfect solutions to help assist in day to day life.
With this in mind, the company has tasked Musk with releasing one million AI-powered robots over the next ten years – despite not having produced and developed a single robot at the time of writing.
Robo-taxi rollout
With Tesla well known for its innovative self-driving feature, it should come as no shock that the board is keen to commercialise this, with the rollout of Robo-taxis.
Under the agreed proposals, Musk must bring one million self-driving Robo-taxis into commercial operation within the next decade.
Choosing a successor
Although Musk is a proud supporter of scientific advancement, immortality currently remains beyond his reach.
This means that eventually he will need to create a succession plan for who can take over as the head of Tesla, and the board have insisted that in order to become a trillionaire, this needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Why did the board approve such an expensive plan?
The Tesla board felt strongly that Musk was its biggest asset and offered up such a lucrative reward package in order to stop the tech mogul from walking away from the company.
Tesla’s directors have such confidence in Musk that they believe he will be able to meet all of the conditions laid out - in fact, some have argued he may just be the only man who can make them a reality.
Reflecting on why more shares in the company are ‘critical to keep Musk at the helm’, financial services firm Wedbush said: "We believe this was the smart move by the board to lay out these incentives/pay package at this key time as the biggest asset for Tesla is Musk ... and with the AI revolution, this is a crucial time for Tesla ahead with autonomous and robotics front and centre."
Phoebe Tonks