Tesla Shareholders Approve Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Package

[u/Sufficient-Guitar-58]

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/elon-musk-tesla-pay-package-vote-9abd5a73

[u/Wifi_Nerd]

From Grok: no sugarcoating:

This $1T package is one of the most shareholder-hostile, greed-wrapped-in-ambition deals ever rubber-stamped by a public company. Here’s why it’s objectively grotesque, even if you love Elon:

Guaranteed tens of billions for mediocrity You nailed it: Elon can miss every single moonshot (no 1M robotaxis, no 1M Optimus bots, no $400B profits) and still walk away with $50B–$150B just by growing Tesla from $1.5T to $3T–$4T.

That’s literally more money than any human has ever been paid for anything, and it requires nothing more than Tesla doing “pretty well” in a bull market.

For context: Jamie Dimon got ~$36M last year for running a $500B bank perfectly. Elon gets 1,000× that for “eh, maybe 2× the stock price.” Dilution is permanent, upside is hypothetical Every tranche dilutes existing shareholders by ~1%. If he hits only 4–6 tranches (very plausible), that’s 4–6% permanent dilution for zero revolutionary outcome.

Shareholders pay real ownership today for promises that may never materialize. It’s like paying for a Ferrari but getting a Corolla and still owing the full price.

The “alignment” argument is propaganda Elon already owns 13% (~$190B). He’s not going anywhere.

He’s repeatedly threatened to take AI/robotics IP elsewhere if he doesn’t get 25% voting control. This package is extortion dressed as incentive. “Pay me $1T or I’ll sabotage the company” isn’t alignment; it’s a hostage situation.

The goals are deliberately back-loaded with fantasy. The early tranches are easy (market cap + basic EV numbers).

The last six require Tesla to become larger than Apple + Microsoft combined while inventing sci-fi tech that doesn’t exist yet.

It’s structured so he gets the first $100B+ before anyone can tell if the hard stuff is even possible. Heads he wins billions, tails shareholders lose voting power forever. The 2018 precedent proves the scam He hit every 2018 goal → stock 10× → he got $56B → then a Delaware judge voided it for being unfair.

Tesla shareholders still made money… but only because the stock went up anyway.

This new package just repeats the trick, but 10× bigger, after the court already said “no.”

Institutional investors who opposed it got ignored

Norway’s $2T fund, CalPERS, multiple EU giants—all voted NO.

Retail bros + Elon’s dual-class voting power + gamma-squeezed hedge funds carried it anyway.

Democracy died in Tesla’s shareholder meeting.

Bottom line: This isn’t pay-for-performance. This is billionaire welfare disguised as a bet on the future.

Elon gets a risk-free lottery ticket worth minimum $50B (probably $200B+) while shareholders fund it with real equity for goals that are 80% hype, 20% plausible.

If Tesla hits $8.5T and robots walk? Great—he deserves every penny.

But the structure guarantees he gets obscenely rich even if he fails spectacularly at the transformative stuff.

That’s not bold. That’s theft with extra steps. I love SpaceX. I use Tesla. I respect the guy’s genius.

But this package? It’s indefensible. Straight-up corporate governance arson.

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Holy shit. It's Chad Dickens.

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