Has Elon Musk really been awarded a $1 trillion pay deal?

Tesla shares jumped 6 percent connected Monday aft CEO Elon Musk disclosed that helium had bought $1bn worthy of the company’s stock. The determination reinforces Musk’s propulsion for greater power implicit Tesla and comes a week aft the company’s committee offered him a $1 trillion wage bundle over the adjacent decade.

Musk’s banal acquisition – his archetypal open-market buy-up of shares since 2020 – comes astatine a captious clip for Tesla, arsenic it races to alteration into an artificial quality and robotics steadfast whilst besides grappling with falling income of electrical vehicles (EVs).

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But Musk’s wage packet has travel successful for aggravated criticism. Last weekend, Pope Leo decried the widening wage spread betwixt firm bosses specified arsenic Elon Musk – whose estimated wealthiness present stands astatine $367bn – and mean moving people, which helium said was a large origin successful increasing planetary unrest.

Tesla Model Y cars connected show arsenic Tesla opens its archetypal Delhi-NCR showroom astatine Aerocity connected August 11, 2025 successful New Delhi, India [Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images]

On September 12, Musk, 54, purchased 2.57 cardinal shares (which represents little than 1 percent of Tesla’s marketplace capitalisation), paying betwixt $372 and $397 per stock arsenic the terms varied done the day, according to regulatory filings. He present owns astir 20 percent of Tesla, which seemingly pleases its investors.

Tesla’s stock terms roseate to astir $422 connected Monday – inactive 12 percent little than its all-time precocious of $479 (reached successful December 2024). Following his caller move, Musk posted connected X that the summation successful Tesla’s worth was “foretold successful the prophecy”.

While Musk wasn’t an archetypal laminitis of Tesla – helium invested successful the institution 1 twelvemonth aft it was established – helium became president successful 2004. The South African entrepreneur has consistently demanded a bigger involvement and much voting powerfulness astatine Tesla, having antecedently said helium would similar to physique AI products and robots extracurricular of Tesla if helium cannot power 25 percent voting powerfulness successful the firm.

Musk sold much than $20bn of Tesla’s banal (or 4.6 percent of its marketplace cap) successful 2022 to money his acquisition of Twitter, present X, for $44bn. He besides owns backstage holdings successful SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company.

Is Musk truly being paid $1 trillion?

The Tesla CEO volition person to conscionable definite performance-related criteria first. To unlock the afloat $1 trillion payout, Musk volition person to rise the company’s valuation from astir $1 trillion contiguous to $8.5 trillion implicit the adjacent 10 years. He volition besides person to merchantability 1 cardinal autonomous taxis and 1 cardinal robots and summation Tesla’s profits by much than 24 times what it earned past year.

Tesla presently operates a fewer twelve autonomous taxis successful a constricted country successful the metropolis wherever it is headquartered, Austin, Texas successful the US. Known arsenic “robotaxis“, they are self-driving vehicles but are accompanied by quality “safety supervisors”, who tin intervene if problems occur.

On the robotics side, the institution unveiled its archetypal humanoid robot – Optimus – successful 2022. In 2024, Musk claimed that Tesla would deploy robots for “internal usage [ie for usage wrong its ain factories]” successful 2025, and that it would person produced 5,000 units by then. Neither pledge has been met truthful far.

Musk besides precocious said that “80 percent of Tesla’s [future] worth volition beryllium Optimus”.

How has Musk’s wage astatine Tesla risen implicit time?

After Musk joined Tesla successful 2004, helium took precise small currency pay. Instead, helium chose to beryllium paid successful equity. Then, successful 2018, shareholders approved a landmark 10-year wage bundle for Musk – linked to assorted operational targets – estimated astatine $2.6bn.

As Tesla’s marketplace worth surged aft the commencement of 2020 (when it was trading astatine conscionable $29.50 a share), galore of those wage objectives were met, and Musk received a ample fig of further Tesla shares. Due to broad banal marketplace gains since the COVID-19 pandemic, Musk’s net are estimated to person climbed by $40bn-$60bn.

Though Musk’s wage windfall astatine Tesla has attracted regulatory scrutiny for overcompensation, particularly from Delaware’s Court of Chancery, astir of the company’s shareholders person repeatedly ratified the CEO’s outgo packages.

How bash CEOs’ wage packets comparison to those of mean US workers?

Tesla doesn’t disclose non-executive salaries, truthful it is hard to accidental however Musk’s income compares to that of the mean idiosyncratic there.

However, firm wage successful the US has mostly rallied successful caller decades compared to that of workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, mean wage for CEOs astatine S&P 500 companies  – the 500 biggest listed firms successful the US – roseate by astir 1,000 percent implicit the 50-year play starring up to 2024.

By contrast, a emblematic idiosyncratic astatine an S&P 500 institution has seen his oregon her wage packet emergence by conscionable 27 percent (adjusted for inflation) implicit the aforesaid period. Stated differently, the CEO-to-worker wage ratio has accrued from 30:1 to 350:1 implicit the past 5 decades.

In an interrogation past week with Crux, a Catholic quality website, Pope Leo singled retired Elon Musk arsenic an illustration of the benignant of wealthiness helium said was corroding “the worth of quality life, of the family, of the worth of society”.

Asked astir Tesla’s projected $1 trillion wage packet, Leo responded: “What does that mean, and what’s that about? If [personal wealthiness accumulation] is the lone happening that has immoderate worth immoderate more, past we are successful large trouble.”

Is Tesla successful trouble?

Despite its caller uptick, truthful acold this year, Tesla’s banal marketplace show has been among the worst of the “Magnificent 7” radical of tech giants – which besides includes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia – having mislaid astir 2 percent of its worth this twelvemonth truthful far.

Tesla’s astir caller quarterly results showed nett losses amid falling request for electrical vehicles and accrued import accumulation costs associated with US President Donald Trump’s commercialized tariffs. Looking ahead, net look acceptable to proceed falling.

Sales of Tesla cars successful the US volition apt autumn further successful the past 3 months of 2025, arsenic Trump has refused to widen a tax recognition for EV purchases for US consumers aft October. Up to now, the rebate has played a important relation successful making American EVs much affordable.