Tesla board to shareholders: Pay Musk or else

Reuters.com ^ | November 5, 20252:32 PM CST | Chris Kirkham

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Summary

• CEO Musk might quit if investors vote down $878 billion pay package this week, board says
• Many shareholders believe only Musk can deliver on promises of robotaxis, robots
• Some investors, experts warn of risks in staking Tesla's future on one leader

LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Tesla's (TSLA.O) , opens new tab board of directors has pushed in all its chips on Elon Musk. Now investors must decide whether to back the biggest bet in company history. Shareholders will vote Thursday on the stark choice presented by the board: pay Musk up to $878 billion in company stock or take the risk he will leave – potentially driving down the company’s stock. The decision, experts say, amounts to a referendum on whether traditional corporate-governance rules apply to the world's richest man.

The board and many investors argue that only Musk can deliver on his promises to transform Tesla into an artificial-intelligence juggernaut delivering millions of self-driving robotaxis and humanoid robots. If Musk hits all the board’s performance goals within a decade, Tesla’s market value will have grown to $8.5 trillion – with Musk owning about a quarter of the stock.

That is exponentially more compensation than any other CEO, and Musk would still collect record payouts – tens of billions – if he misses most performance goals. Many investors are not blinking at the eye-watering sums.

“If the stock is going to go up sixfold – and that’s a requirement here – then I’m going to make a lot of money,” said Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments, a Tesla investor. “Why do I care what kind of money he makes if he’s effecting the change and the vision?”

Other major shareholders and executive-pay experts warn that the proposal represents an enormous risk...

[PGR88]

CEO Musk might quit if investors vote down $878 billion pay package this week, board says

I'll do it for half that.

[Jonty30]

Musk’s pattern is that he keeps his money mostly in the companies he has founded or co-founded, so it makes me wonder if part of the reason for wanting so much money is because he has an idea for another company?

[Raycpa]

He could make the money in a new company.

[Cold Heart]

I’ll do it really cheap. Just bring me the questions and I will answer with + or 0

[cpdiii]

Musk’s pattern is that he keeps his money mostly in the companies he has founded or co-founded, so it makes me wonder if part of the reason for wanting so much money is because he has an idea for another company?

BINGO! You are probably correct. Musk has more damn money than he needs personally. He will use it to start new great things and I would buy the stock. His bonus was predicated on the performance of the company under his leadership. He exceeded all the agreeded on performance dictated and exceeded it greatly. Pay the man, he earned as per contract. A contract I did not think he could meet but he did!

Not to pay him would be like General Electric not paying Thomas Edison for research. He founded GE just as Musk founded Tesla and Space-X

PAY THE MAN!

[from occupied ga]

Or else what? EV sales will tank? Getting rid of the taxpayer funded incentive and the EV mandate insures that there will be a long dry spell in EV sales. Robo taxis will remain not ready for prime time pipe dream for a long time. Too many situations that can’t be anticipated by a programmer to make them safe and reliable. I figure Robotaxis will be commercially viable about the same time fusion power contributes significantly to the national grid.

[roadcat]

Not to pay him would be like General Electric not paying Thomas Edison for research. He founded GE just as Musk founded Tesla and Space-X

Ironic thing about history, Nikola Tesla invented many things, including our AC electrical networks, but died poor. Gave away his patents to Westinghouse in order to save the company headed by George Westinghouse. Tesla and Edison were rivals, with Edison cheating Tesla out of many inventions.

Elon Musk is a lot smarter than Nikola Tesla, not wanting to repeat the mistake of losing money so he can funnel into other inventions. Online telephone directories, PayPal online money payments, EV's, rockets, brain chips for the handicapped, tunnel boring to alleviate traffic, solar energy utilities, robotics, AI, etc. What's his next move, real estate mogul on Mars?

[Bobalu]

Elon Musk is a lot smarter than Nikola Tesla

Yup, Musk is way smarter.

Tesla was 90% genius and 10% crackpot... an interesting mix.

Musk is worth the huge payday, IMO.

[TexasGator]

“Musk’s pattern is that he keeps his money mostly in the companies he has founded or co-founded, so it makes me wonder if part of the reason for wanting so much money is because he has an idea for another company?”

No money. Stock in his company. And performance based.

[TexasGator]

“Pay the man, he earned as per contract. “

This pay is for FUTURE performance.

[torqemada]

<< This pay is for FUTURE performance.

Which begs the question, how does anyone insure the life of someone like Elon Musk? Sure, there will still be robo-taxis, humanoid robots, AI and rockets to outer space...BUT they’ll be designed by some other nation by a conglomeration of brains and probably not until the next century. Sure, there will be more geniuses down the line, but no one with a vision to dream the dreams of Elon and with the singular will to bring ALL of them to life.

[SunkenCiv]

Omar Aguilar, CEO & CIO of Schwab Asset Management, joins 'Halftime Report' to explain why Schwab voted in favor of Elon Musk's $1 Trillion pay package.

Schwab backs Musk's $1 trillion pay package | 6:51
CNBC Television | 3.28M subscribers | 9,024 views | November 5, 2025

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[minnesota_bound]

Self driving cars I hope will always be a future dream. Electronic glitches or hacks will happen then you have a weapon driving aimlessly down a road at YOU!

I have seen stories about telsa cars driving itself to the customer but what happens when it fails? I do not want the gov’t able to shutdown gas cars as they will be able to do in 2026 models and forward. If the gov’t can do so then some hacker can too.
Telsa cars can get software updates and lock you out or dumb down the vehicle performance if you do not pay the extra fee they tell you to pay.

[exPBRrat]

They should pay up.

[CodeToad]

Tesla does not need Musk. Let him go.

[discostu]

A trillion dollars in stock?! To a guy that has actually no technical savvy and only bought the company?! Stockholders should tell him to #$%^ right off. NOBODY is worth that kind of money. And they should get rid of everybody on the board that thinks this is a good idea, cause they’re idiots, or bribed.

[discostu]

Musk neither founded nor cofounded Tesla. Or most of his companies. He was an early investor. Who then leveraged his position. He’s a BUYER not an inventor.

[discostu]

Musk didn’t found Tesla. He invested in it. He doesn’t found much of anything.