Tesla shareholders have approved a one trillion dollar pay plan for Elon Musk, making it the largest pay package in corporate history.
Musk, who already ranks as the world’s wealthiest person, could become the richest person in history if he meets the targets attached to the package.
Shareholders voted during Tesla’s annual meeting in Austin, where 75 percent supported the plan. Several investors opposed the package, but the majority expressed full confidence in Musk’s leadership and long term vision for the company.
Musk thanked shareholders on stage and celebrated the approval by dancing with Tesla’s Optimus robots. He called the robots the future of the company and the future of humanity. Musk said Optimus will become “the biggest product in history” and claimed it will be useful in medical services and daily life.
Tesla tied Musk’s trillion dollar payout to strict performance goals. He must increase Tesla’s market value to 8.5 trillion dollars, which is eight times higher than its current valuation. The goals are divided into twelve milestones, and Musk also needs to present a long term succession plan.
He has a decade to meet the targets. During that period, Tesla must sell twenty million electric vehicles, one million humanoid robots, and one million robotaxis for commercial use. The company must also sell ten million full self driving subscription plans. Musk needs to keep Tesla’s quarterly revenue above four hundred billion dollars for four straight quarters. In comparison, Tesla reported 4.2 billion dollars in revenue in the third quarter of 2025.
The compensation plan exceeds the annual GDP of several countries, including Ireland, Sweden and Argentina. Critics say the package concentrates too much power in one individual and ignores challenges Tesla faces in an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market.
This is not the first time Tesla offered Musk a historic pay plan.
In 2018, Tesla shareholders approved a fifty six billion dollar pay package for him. Tesla investor Richard Tornetta challenged that plan in a Delaware court. He argued that Musk wrote the package for himself and that the board hid key details from shareholders. The court ruled that Tesla’s board acted improperly and struck down the plan.
Musk currently leads global wealth rankings with a net worth of 461 billion dollars.