Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of around $490 billion as of November 2025, is set to potentially become the first trillionaire in history, thanks to a newly approved compensation package from Tesla. The electric vehicle maker’s shareholders approved a landmark compensation package on Thursday, valued at nearly $1 trillion for the tech billionaire. The vote, which passed with 75% support among voting shares, reaffirms Musk’s importance for the company, and also underscores massive expectations for Tesla’s future.
However, this pay package is not like what regular employees earn as salary. This essentially a performance-based incentive aligned with Tesla’s expected growth. Unlike traditional executive pays that mostly include salary and bonuses in cash, this package grants Musk stock options equivalent to about 9% of Tesla’s outstanding shares, to be allotted in 12 instalments. Each of these 12 tranches unlocks only when Tesla hits specific milestones, including revenue targets, adjusted EBITDA goals, and market capitalisation milestones.
Musk’s compensation plan was originally designed in 2018, which have been now restructured following legal battles. The original plan estimated the final market cap milestone of the company at $650 billion, a number the company surpassed years ago, which is now valued at over $1.50 trillion.
With the company’s market cap and revenue expanding with introduction of new products like robotaxis, humanoid robots, new car models and introduction of full self-driving software, Musk’s pay package is also set to go up exponentially. According to the pay package approved by shareholders, Musk’s full package could be worth between $878 billion and $1 trillion if all targets are achieved over the next decade.
What is the $1 trillion pay package
Here is how the pay package is structured: Elon Musk will be allotted 423.7 million new Tesla shares. These shares are divided into 12 equal parts, each part having about 35.3 million shares. Musk only gets a part of the shares if Tesla reaches a specific goal related to that part. He can unlock up to $100 billion per tranche, totalling $1.2 Trillion if totally vested.
The main goals linked with the package are: Tesla must increase its market value by 466% from today, with highest goal of $8.5 trillion in market value. Apart from this, there are goals linked to revenue, profits, and progress in self-driving cars, energy storage, and robots. If Tesla does not achieve the targets, Musk gets nothing.
The package spans a period of 10 years. Musk must stay as Tesla’s CEO to get any shares as part of the package. He gets the first trance of stock if Tesla market capitalisation his $2 trillion. After that the next nine trances will be allotted when Tesla’s value increases by increments of $500 billion, up to $6.5 trillion. For the last two trances, Tesla market cap need to go up by $1 trillion. Therefore, the company’s value will need to reach $8.5 trillion for Musk to unlock the allotted shares.
| Market value milestones | Operational milestones |
|---|---|
| $2 trillion | 20 million vehicles delivered |
| $2.5 trillion | 10 million active FSD subscriptions |
| $3 trillion | 1 million Optimus robots delivered |
| $3.5 trillion | 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation |
| $4 trillion | $50 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $4.5 trillion | $80 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $5 trillion | $130 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $5.5 trillion | $210 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $6 trillion | $300 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $6.5 trillion | $400 billion adjusted EBITDA |
| $7.5 trillion | |
| $8.5 trillion |
Along with these market value goals, the company must also achieve a series of earning milestones, which starts at $50 billion in annual adjusted profit, and goes up to $400 billion.
Other targets needed to be achieved include 20 million vehicle deliveries, shipping 1 million Optimus humanoid robots, launching 1 million robotaxis, 10 million active FSD (Full Self-Driving) subscriptions. Notably, while all Tesla cars come with equipped with FSD capabilities, it has to unlocked with subscription after the initial trial period.
The company is yet to start selling Optimus robots, and its robotaxi service is also yet to be launched. Unlike its Chinese competitors, Tesla does not come with full self-driving yet, and it currently offers “FSD Supervised” vehicles in the USA, where a person is needed in the driver’s seat to supervise the automated driving system. The company plans to upgrade its system so that its cars can drive on the road without human supervision
According to estimates, if Tesla reaches the highest goal of $8.5 trillion market cap, the 423.7 million shares got by Musk could be worth $1 trillion. It is notable that the 423.7 million shares are in addition to Tesla shares already owned by Elon Musk. At present he has around 13% of Tesla shares. With the new stock, his holding in the company could reach 25%, which will mean he will have more control over the company with more voting power.
Even though the plan is for 10 years, Musk can become the first Trillionaire earlier, if Tesla achieves the milestones ahead of projected time. In fact, if Tesla share keeps going up at the current rate, it can happen in just 2-3 years, as his new package will be added to his existing net worth of around $250 billion. Informa Connect Academy estimates that he can become a Trillionaire by 2027 itself.
The new pay package ensures that Elon Musk has to focus on Tesla, given that he owns and runs several other companies. Apart from Tesla, other companies that Musk runs are SpaceX that launches rockets and spacecrafts, Artificial Intelligence venture xAI which owns X, Neuralink that makes brain implants, and the Boring Company which makes tunnels. He will not only have to improve the sales of Tesla cars, he will also have to achieve success in new Tesla ventures like robotics, robotaxis and energy storage solutions.
Challenges for Musk and Tesla
Tesla board has set high targets for Musk to earn his $1 Trillion, with the proposal said that he will have to “completely transform Tesla and society as we know it.” However, Reuters estimates that some of the goals are rather ‘easy’, and he can easily earn $50 billion by achieving these milestones. This includes sales goals for Tesla cars.
However, overall the pay package depends entirely on Tesla’s performance, and its ability to keep innovating. The company is facing increasing challenges, despite being the most valuable automobile company. The sales growth has come down, and Musk’s involvement in politics have not helped. When he became a close aide of President Trump, he faced massive backlash from liberals, with hundreds of Tesla cars vandalised across the country.
When he became a vocal critic of Trump, the president threatened to cancel government contracts for his companies. Donald Turmp’s opposition to electric vehicles and renewable energy has also not helped, as he dropped subsidies given to EVs.
Tesla also faces massive competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers, some of whom have surpassed Tesla in terms of technology. Chinese EVs, equipped with LIDAR, now run driverless taxis, a feat Tesla cars dependent only on cameras for self-driving is yet to achieve.
The Trillionaire club
While Elon Musk is going to be the first Trillionaire, he will have several members in the Trillionaire club in future. Studies indicate that there will be five Trillionaires in the next 10 years.
The next Trillionaire can be NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, as NVIDIA stock has soared fuelled by its blockbuster AI chip sales. NVIDIA market cap touched $5 Trillion last month, which has come down to around $4.5 Trillion. India’s Gautam Adani is another frontrunner, with the Adani group of companies projecting massive expansions in diverse sectors such as energy, shipping and data centres.
Indonesia’s Prajogo Pangestu, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault are potential Trillionaires.