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DealBook|Breaking Down Elon Musk’s Pay Package
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/business/dealbook/elon-musk-trillionaire.html
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Andrew here, with breaking news: Tesla’s board just proposed a new pay package for Elon Musk that could be worth more than $1 trillion if — and only if — the company achieves eye-opening milestones that would make it one of the most valuable in history. Musk would receive an additional 1 percent stake when Tesla’s market cap reached $2 trillion, another 1 percent at $3 trillion, and so on. He must also meet operational goals like more than tripling Tesla’s earnings.
These numbers sound fanciful, and even the company calls them “aspirational.” But the truth is, the deal is the most honest attempt at pay-for-performance by any company out there. He gets nothing if he doesn’t reach the milestones, and must also hold the shares for at least seven and a half years to cash in any of the stock. One other proposal worth highlighting: Shareholders will be asked whether Tesla’s board should consider making an investment in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence business. (Its Grok A.I. model is already being used inside Tesla vehicles.) A yes vote could open the door to an investment or even a takeover, and would most likely protect the board from accusations of self-dealing.
Critics of Musk’s previous pay package — many of whom will probably dislike this one — have said that he already has plenty of incentives to work hard at Tesla, including how many shares he already owns. (Jeff Bezos, for example, never received additional Amazon stock beyond his founding stake.) But the practical reality is that Musk has interests in a number of other companies, including xAI, SpaceX and Neuralink, that make keeping him focused on Tesla difficult.
Jobs and the Fed
Investors are on tenterhooks for Friday’s jobs report, which will offer new clues on the economic fallout from President Trump’s trade war, and may guide the Fed’s next moves on interest rates.
It’s the first report since Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the data, after a lackluster showing. And it comes as he seeks more control over the Fed. But the markets are looking up, with the S&P 500 at a high, as investors appear more focused on the shorter-term prospect of lower borrowing costs.
