Elon Wants His $1 Trillion Bag… And He’s Holding Tesla’s Future Hostage to Get It

Nothing motivates a billionaire quite like the promise of becoming a trillionaire.

If you’ve ever cried your eyes out watching your favorite NFL player ditch his hometown team for $45 million instead of $43 million, then you know how hard it is to comprehend how those extra $2 million were really the difference leaving the fans and organization they supposedly “loved.” But what Tesla just floated? That’s a whole new galaxy of “unrelatable.”

Tesla’s board (likely held at gunpoint flamethrower by Elon) has proposed a 10-year compensation plan for Musk worth nearly $1 trillion (not a typo). What’s crazy is not even Jeff Bezos can relate to that bag. The package would hand Musk more than 423 million additional shares if he maxes it out, increasing his control of Tesla to around 25%. To unlock it all, Tesla’s market cap would need to climb from its current $1.1 trillion to $8.5 trillion. That’s essentially asking Tesla to turn into Apple, Microsoft, and a side of Nvidia rolled together.

The first milestone is hitting $2 trillion in market value, which would also mean delivering 20 million vehicles a year, signing up 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, rolling out a million humanoid robots, and launching a million robotaxis. So, no pressure Elon.

(Source: NBC News)

Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm defended the plan on live television, saying Musk only gets paid if he hits “super ambitious” targets. She pitched it as a way to keep him “motivated and focused,” which is hilarious because the plan doesn’t actually require Musk to work a minimum number of hours on Tesla. So technically, he could be drilling tunnels with The Boring Company, building rockets at SpaceX, or cosplaying as Iron Man at Neuralink and still cash in if the goals are met. Tell me I’m wrong, but that feels less like “focused leadership” and more like “let’s dangle a trillion-dollar bribe so he pretends to care.”

Of course, there’s baggage here. Delaware’s Chancery Court already struck down his 2018 $55 billion package as excessive and improperly granted, pointing out that Musk essentially negotiated with himself. That case is still on appeal. Now Tesla’s Elon’s back, passive aggressively saying, “Okay, what if we made it 18 times bigger?”

If shareholders greenlight this thing on November 6, Musk could be cruising toward the title of world’s first trillionaire. That’s if Tesla actually hits those wild targets and doesn’t let Waymo or BYD stroll in and eat their chicken tendies first. Dan Ives over at Wedbush (aka Tesla’s unofficial hype man) says it’s the right call, that Elon’s the guy to lead Tesla’s AI and robot empire. Maybe he’s right. Or maybe it turns into the priciest participation trophy ever if Tesla keeps tripping over deadlines like it’s running a three-legged race.

So while you’re sitting there deciding if that $4 Coke at dinner is worth it or if you’ll just stick with tap water, Elon Musk is negotiating whether his next paycheck comes with twelve zeros. Because nothing gets a billionaire more fired up than the chance to type the word “trillionaire” in his Twitter bio. And love him or hate him, it’s still wild that he pulled all this off without the trust fund starter kit.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola as mentioned in the article.