The richest man in the world could soon be on track to become the first trillionaire. Tesla’s board has proposed a massive compensation plan that would hand CEO Elon Musk up to 423.7 million additional shares if the company reaches an $8.5 trillion valuation by 2035, a target nearly eight times its current market value. The package, potentially worth close to $1 trillion, has ignited outrage from lawmakers and sharpened debates over inequality, taxation, and corporate power.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was quick to denounce the plan. “Another $900 billion for Elon Musk, while 60 percent live paycheck to paycheck? Really?” he wrote on social media. “This is not only grossly immoral. It is insane economics. No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class struggles to survive. This cannot stand.”
At today’s share price, the proposed award equals about $148.7 billion. If Tesla hits the extraordinary milestones outlined in the filing, Musk’s stake would climb to nearly 29 percent of the company. The board justified the package by arguing Musk could walk away without assurances of control, writing that “Musk also raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive such assurances.” In the same filing, directors said they “believe that Mr. Musk singularly possesses the leadership characteristics necessary to transform Tesla and realize its long-term mission at an unparalleled level.”
Musk himself has made his conditions for staying clear. In January 2024, he wrote, “I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25 percent voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.”
Supporters argue that the package would secure Musk’s attention at a critical moment. “The simple message the board is sending to Elon: ‘We want your attention on Tesla,’” said Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management. He added that Tesla’s future lies in so-called “physical AI,” from robotaxis to humanoid robots. “We are still just scratching the surface of physical AI: current use cases are almost comical, limited to nascent robotaxi trials by Waymo and Tesla. Eventually, physical AI will impact anything that moves, representing a market potential that’s hard for me to fathom.”
Skeptics, however, point to Musk’s long record of missed deadlines. “Elon Musk has been saying since 2014 ‘we will have a fully autonomous car next year.’ It hasn’t happened, but that promise has been valued in the billions by Wall Street,” said analyst Gordon Johnson. “Elon Musk is a master manipulator. He’s been able to keep the stock elevated. The reason the board is paying him is he’s willing to say things that other CEOs aren’t willing to say or get away with.”
Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, tied the package directly to Musk’s desire for dominance. “This is all about Musk being scared about being kicked out of Tesla because he only owns 13 percent,” he said. Gerber noted that many investors may accept the plan because it sets nearly unreachable goals: “The goals are so high that if he makes them, I’ll make a lot of money. So who cares if he gets $1 trillion.” Yet, he added, “But if you actually think about it, it’s absurd.”
The debate comes against a backdrop of economic pain for ordinary households. Musk’s net worth already stands at $435 billion. Oxfam reports that billionaire wealth has surged by more than $6 trillion since 2015, while RAND researchers estimate that $79 trillion has shifted from the bottom 90 percent of Americans to the wealthiest 1 percent in the last half century. A recent Bankrate survey found that nearly six in ten Americans could not cover a $1,000 emergency expense.
Tesla’s own tax record has come under fire. In 2024, the company paid no federal income tax despite reporting $2.3 billion in income. Its average effective tax rate over the past three years was just 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the broader economy is showing signs of strain. On the same day the board unveiled Musk’s proposed award, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that only 22,000 jobs were created in August. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, the highest since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. CNN described the figures bluntly: “job growth is practically nonexistent.”
Policy choices have further tilted the balance. The Congressional Budget Office found that the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would strip $1,600 annually from the poorest 10 percent of households while granting the richest 10 percent an additional $12,000. The bill would also push millions off their health insurance.
Adding to the turmoil are layoffs tied to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk once led. Companies citing DOGE’s directives have cut hundreds of thousands of jobs, accounting for nearly half of nationwide layoffs in the early months of Trump’s presidency. Cuts to research spending threaten hundreds of thousands more positions linked to federal grants.
Tesla shareholders will decide whether to approve the package in a vote expected later this year. Investors have repeatedly endorsed Musk’s past compensation plans, even reapproving one in 2024 that a Delaware judge had struck down as unfair. If ratified, the new deal would rank among the largest pay packages in corporate history, cementing Musk’s control of Tesla while spotlighting a widening gulf between concentrated wealth and a struggling workforce.
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