$1 trillion ‘salary’: what does Musk want beyond control of Tesla?

Already the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is defending his proposed $1 trillion compensation package at Tesla — arguing that it’s not about joining the trillionaire club, but rather about ensuring he isn’t left out.

“I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then getting ousted because of some absurd recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. I mean, these guys are corporate terrorists,” Musk said Wednesday during Tesla’s quarterly earnings call, referring to the voting advisory services that are encouraging investors to reject Tesla’s plan. remuneration.

The proposal would grant Musk up to $1 trillion in shares if he meets key performance targets, including growing the company to a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion, more than 500% above its current valuation. Musk insisted the package is not about personal gain — but rather about ensuring he maintains enough influence to drive Tesla’s next chapter, focused on AI, robotaxis and humanoid robots. If approved, Musk’s stake could rise from 13% to almost 29%.

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“It’s called compensation, but it’s not like I’m going to go out and spend that money,” Musk added. “It’s just that if we build this robot army, will I have at least a strong influence over it, not total control, but a strong influence? That’s what matters, in short. I don’t feel comfortable commanding this robot army if I don’t have at least a strong influence.”

Musk admitted that having voting control in the “mid 20%” range would help ensure “strong influence,” but would give shareholders enough control to fire him if he “goes crazy.”

Musk’s net worth is about $455 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

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Tesla’s board announced Musk’s ambitious executive compensation plan in September. If approved at the company’s annual meeting on November 6, Musk will gradually receive more than 420 million shares in the electric vehicle maker — that is, only if he can achieve the company’s growth plans, which include the delivery of 20 million Tesla vehicles and 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation.

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At the time of the announcement, Tesla’s share price was down about 10% year to date, and the board felt that the long-term performance award for the CEO “retains and encourages Elon to focus his energies.”

“While we believe Elon is the only person capable of leading Tesla at this critical inflection point, changing the world is not an overnight process nor the work of a single person,” Tesla’s board wrote in a letter to shareholders. “So we also want your help in securing the team and strategy needed to achieve goals that others will consider impossible, but that we know are possible for Tesla.”

Since then, Tesla shares have recovered, now up more than 15% for the year.

Musk has long sought more control at Tesla, arguing that complex innovations require significant influence over the company.

“I don’t feel comfortable making Tesla the leader in AI and robotics without having about 25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be toppled,” Musk wrote on GM.”

This article was originally published on Fortune.com