Tesla CEO Elon Musk Qualifies For Yet Another $11 Billion In Stock Options

Tesla’s quarterly report on Monday – the one that was helped along by more ZEV credit sales and the company daytrading cryptocurrency – has triggered two options payouts to the tune of $11 billion for CEO Elon Musk.

Each of two new tranches of options gives Musk the option to buy 8.4 million shares of Tesla at $70 each, which is a more than 90% discount from the current market price. 

The company said it incurred a $299 million expense related to Musk’s pay package, “driven by an increase in market capitalization and a new operational milestone becoming probable,” Reuters reported.

“The shares from four previous tranches, plus the fifth and sixth tranches, could generate a profit of nearly $34 billion, or almost $6 billion per tranche,” the report continued.

We have documented over the last couple years the billions of dollars in compensation Tesla CEO Elon Musk has received as a result of – not production goals – but compensation awards tied to metrics like market cap, EBITDA, and basically the company’s stock price going up. 

As a result, Musk saw his net worth rise over $100 billion in 2020. 

Many who were critical of Musk’s compensation plan said it offered little incentive for the company to reach profitability, only to grow in size of market cap. Back in 2018, even the New York Times called Musk hitting his pay plan goals “laughably impossible”. 

And yet, here we are…