Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s record-setting compensation package, a plan that could ultimately be worth up to $1 trillion in stock if Tesla achieves a series of aggressive targets over roughly the next decade. The vote took place at Tesla’s annual meeting in Austin on Thursday, November 6, 2025, and passed with support reported at “over 75%.”
The award is structured entirely in equity and pays out only if performance conditions are met. The package’s gross headline value is about $1 trillion, while the “net” value – after excluding appreciation prior to the board’s approval in early September – equates to roughly $878 billion under the plan’s accounting, with actual value fluctuating alongside Tesla’s share price.
Opposition from major investors and proxy advisers had mounted ahead of the vote, most prominently Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and the proxy firms Glass Lewis and ISS, on grounds including size, dilution, and governance. Despite this, shareholders approved the deal.
Under the plan, Musk earns stock in tranches as Tesla meets paired operational and valuation milestones. Each milestone pair awards 1% of Tesla stock, up to 12% if all goals are achieved. The company also tied eligibility to Musk remaining in a top leadership role.
What Musk must do:
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Deliver 20 million vehicles cumulatively within the 10-year grant period.
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Achieve 10 million active paid Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscriptions cumulatively by the end of the grant period.
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Produce and deliver 1 million Optimus humanoid robots during the 10-year grant period.
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Deploy 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation during the 10-year grant period.
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Increase Tesla’s market capitalization in 12 stepwise tranches from $2 trillion to $8.5 trillion, with each tranche vesting only when both a market-cap threshold and a paired operational or profitability milestone are met.
- Generate adjusted EBITDA/earnings of ~$400 billion in one year.
The approval was finalized at the November 6 meeting in Austin; in addition to the compensation vote, shareholders also backed moving to annual board elections and approved a proposal enabling investment in Musk’s AI startup xAI. Vesting of Musk’s award now depends entirely on Tesla hitting the milestones over time.
The shareholder endorsement underscores not only support of Musk but investor willingness to bet on Tesla’s shift beyond autos toward autonomy and robotics.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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