Wed, 05 Nov 2025

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 Tesla says Musk should be paid $1tn - will shareholders agree?

The car-maker is lobbying fiercely for the pay package, which is being voted on ahead of its AGM on Thursday.
Tesla's shareholders are set to vote on a massive pay package for CEO Elon Musk at the company's annual general meeting in Austin, Texas. The deal would give Musk 423.7 million new shares if he can increase Tesla's market value to $8.5 trillion and successfully launch a million self-driving "Robotaxi" cars. Musk has already become one of the world's richest men, with an estimated worth of over $1 trillion. However, not everyone is on board with the pay package. Proxy advisers Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have recommended rejecting the deal, citing its excessive nature and potential to dilute shareholder value. Norway's sovereign wealth fund and the largest public pension fund in the US, CalPERS, have also expressed concerns about the package. Some shareholders are questioning whether Musk is the right person to lead Tesla, citing the company's struggles with sales and its shift towards more ambitious projects such as autonomous cars and humanoid robots. They argue that the focus on Musk's pay package is symptomatic of a broader issue at Tesla - that the company has lost its way under his leadership. Tesla has taken out digital ads to promote the pay package, while also featuring a video of board members praising Musk's leadership qualities. However, some experts say this is an unusual move for a company to make, and may be indicative of concerns about activist shareholders or other external pressures on the company. The vote on the pay package is set to be one of the most important events in Tesla's history, with a "distinct possibility" that it will not pass.
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