Musk could become world's 1st trillionaire as Tesla shareholders approve giant pay package

Bernard Condon · The Associated Press

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 6:20 PM EST | Last Updated: November 6

The world's richest antheral was conscionable handed a accidental to go history's archetypal trillionaire.

Elon Musk won a shareholder ballot connected Thursday that would springiness the Tesla CEO banal worthy $1 trillion if helium hits definite show targets implicit the adjacent decade.

The ballot followed weeks of statement implicit his absorption grounds astatine the electrical car shaper and whether anyone deserved specified unprecedented pay, drafting heated commentary from tiny investors to elephantine pension funds and adjacent the pope.

In the end, much than 75 per cent of voting shareholders gathered astatine the company's Austin, Texas, office approved the plan.

"Fantastic radical of shareholders," Musk said aft the last ballot was tallied, adding "Hang connected to your Tesla stock."

The ballot is simply a resounding triumph for Musk showing investors inactive person religion successful him arsenic Tesla struggles with plunging sales, marketplace stock and profits successful nary tiny portion owed to Musk himself.

Car buyers person fled the institution this twelvemonth aft helium ventured into authorities some successful the U.S. and Europe, and trafficked successful conspiracy theories.

The ballot came conscionable 3 days aft a study from Europe showing Tesla car income plunged again past month, including a 50 per cent illness successful Germany.

Still, galore Tesla investors see Musk to beryllium a benignant of occurrence antheral susceptible of stunning concern feats, specified arsenic erstwhile helium pulled Tesla from the brink of bankruptcy a half-dozen years agone to crook it into 1 of the world's astir invaluable companies.

Musk indispensable conscionable targets

The ballot clears a way for Musk to go a trillionaire by granting him caller shares, but it won't beryllium easy.

The committee of directors that designed the wage bundle has required him to deed respective ambitious fiscal and operational targets, including expanding the worth of the institution connected the banal marketplace astir six times its existent level.

Musk besides has to present 20 cardinal Tesla electrical vehicles to the marketplace implicit 10 years amid stiff contention — that's much than treble the fig since the founding of the company.

WATCH | How Musk could go history's 1st trillionaire:

He besides has to deploy much than 1 cardinal of his human-like robots that helium has promised volition alteration enactment and location — helium calls it a "robot army" — from zero today.

Musk could adhd billions to his wealthiness successful a fewer years by partially delivering these goals, according to assorted intermediate steps that volition manus him recently created banal successful the institution arsenic helium nears the eventual targets.

That could assistance him yet apical John D. Rockefeller, who is wide considered America's all-time richest man.

The railroad titan is estimated by Guinness World Records to person been worthy $630 cardinal successful today's dollars, astatine the highest of his wealthiness much than 110 years ago. Musk is worthy $493 billion, arsenic estimated by Forbes magazine.

Critics blast package

Musk's triumph came contempt absorption from respective ample funds, including Calpers, the biggest U.S. nationalist pension, and Norway's sovereign wealthiness fund.

Two firm watchdogs, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, besides blasted the package, which truthful angered Musk helium took to calling them "corporate terrorists" astatine a caller capitalist meeting.

Critics argued that the committee of directors was excessively beholden to Musk, his behaviour excessively reckless lately and that the riches that were offered were excessively much.

Supporters accidental Musk needs to beryllium incentivized to absorption connected the institution arsenic helium works to alteration it into an AI powerhouse, utilizing bundle to run hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla cars — galore without steering wheels — and Tesla robots deployed successful offices, factories and homes doing galore tasks present handled by humans.

Investors who voted for the wage had to see not lone Musk's committedness of a bold, caller tomorrow, but whether helium could ruin things today: He had threatened to locomotion distant from the company, which investors feared would vessel the stock.

As it turned out, Tesla shares, already up 80 per cent successful the past year, roseate 1.5 per cent connected quality of the vote, to $447.27 successful after-hours trading.

For his part, Musk says the ballot wasn't truly astir the wealth but getting a higher Tesla involvement — it volition treble to astir 30 per cent — truthful helium could person much powerfulness implicit the company.

He said that was a pressing interest fixed Tesla's aboriginal "robot army" that helium suggested helium didn't spot anyone other to power fixed the imaginable information to humanity.