The Tesla pay package — both of them
Elon Musk has two outstanding compensation arrangements at Tesla. One could push him over $1 trillion by itself. The other has been litigated harder than any pay package in corporate history.
The 2018 CEO performance award
Granted in 2018 with no salary or bonus attached, the package consists of 304 million stock options at a weighted-average strike of $23.34 (post-splits). The options vest in 12 tranches, each requiring two milestones: a market-cap threshold (rising in $50B increments from $100B to $650B) and an operational milestone (revenue or adjusted EBITDA). All 12 tranches were achieved by Q3 2022.
A 2024 Delaware Chancery ruling voided the award on procedural grounds. Tesla re-incorporated to Texas, the shareholders re-approved the package in November 2025, and an S-8 was filed in April 2026 to register the underlying shares. A separate procedural appeal is still pending. We currently mark the package at intrinsic value on the assumption it survives final review.
The 2025 $1 trillion plan
The new pay package, approved November 2025, can pay up to $1T in Tesla stock over 10 years if the company hits a stack of extreme milestones — most notably a $8.5 trillion market cap (vs ~$1T today), 1 million Optimus units produced annually, Cybercab fleet deployment, full self-driving penetration thresholds, and robotaxi revenue targets. The package is structured as performance-based equity in 12 tranches, similar to the 2018 design, with each tranche tied to its own pair of operational + market-cap targets.
The package is in active litigation. Plaintiffs argue dilution; the board argues that if the milestones are hit, existing shareholders see a 5–7× return even after dilution. We do not include any portion of the 2025 award in our current net-worth figure — only the 2018 award (intrinsic value) is included until 2025-package milestones actually start vesting.
Why this matters for the trillionaire timing
If the 2018 award is fully validated and the 2025 award begins vesting on schedule, Musk could clear $1T from Tesla alone within 3–5 years — independent of SpaceX. The SpaceX IPO is the fast path; the pay packages are the durable, mechanical path.
See methodology for how we mark the 2018 options. See SpaceX IPO scenarios for the alternate path.
Frequently asked questions
There are two. The 2018 award is approximately $56 billion at current TSLA prices (304 million options at a $23.34 average strike). The 2025 plan, approved in November 2025, can pay out up to $1 trillion in additional Tesla stock if a series of operational and market-cap milestones are hit over 10 years.