Tesla Incentives Pay Off Handsomely for Musk

His payout could be worth $770M
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted May 29, 2020 3:37 PM CDT
Tesla Makes Its Goals, Which Could Make Musk $770M
Elon Musk attends the scheduled SpaceX liftoff Wednesday in Cape Canaveral, Fla.   (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Elon Musk doesn't take a salary from Tesla. He doesn't seem to need one. The company has met its financial goals, Mashable reports, which makes Musk eligible for his reward. He can now buy 1.69 million shares at $350.02 apiece. At Thursday's closing price of $805 or so, the CEO's payout comes to about $770 million. Under his compensation plan, announced in January 2018, Musk has to hold onto the shares for five years. The company goals included a market cap averaging more than $100 billion for six months, and either annual revenue of $20 billion or adjusted earnings of $1.5 billion. In an SEC filing in advance of a shareholder meeting, the company confirmed that the goals were met and Musk can collect.

And that's just the beginning. There are 11 more tranches ahead, should Tesla meet the connected goals. The program faces a challenge, however, per CNBC. A shareholder has sued Musk and board members over the plan, saying the board violated its fiduciary duty by approving excessive compensation for the CEO. Musk already is worth about $40 billion on paper, per the Verge. But he has said he doesn't have all that much cash because he puts his money back into his companies, often borrowing more to invest in them. Tesla's annual meeting is scheduled for July 7 in Mountain View, California, and the company says it will be an in-person gathering, despite the pandemic. (Musk has been selling off his properties.)

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