Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Tesla Pay Clash: Will he Exit Tesla?

Tesla braces for a boardroom showdown over Elon Musk’s future leadership with the company. 

Elon Musk might step down from Tesla if shareholders vote down a proposed $1 Trillion pay deal, expected to be an addition to his $500 billion net worth, warns Tesla’s Chair Robyn Denholm ahead of the November 6 vote. One of the biggest pay packages in corporate history, the huge deal would allocate Musk with 12 tranches of stock options, dependent on Tesla’s high targets like $8.5 trillion market cap along with transformative development in AI and autonomous technologies. Tesla argues that the massive pay is crucial to ensure Musk’s proactive involvement in Tesla as the firm intensifies its focus into robotics, self–drivinf and energy systems. 

In her letters to the shareholders Denholm called Musk’s global access and creativity "irreplaceable" and warned the company would lose him if the long-term pay plan is left unapproved, which would be a major setback for Tesla. At the same time, governance analysts question the proposal, reminding investors that Tesla’s 2018 compensation plan was tossed out by a Delaware court due to flaws in its approval process. 

Beyond Musk’s pay, this decision on where Tesla is heading next. A favorable vote would secure Musk’s leadership for another decade whereas a disagreement would leave the company’s future in question, as investors might lose confidence.