Elon Musk could become the first individual to reach a trillion-dollar net worth if Tesla shareholders approve a new compensation plan and he meets aggressive company goals over the next decade.
The proposal, announced by Tesla's board, would award Musk hundreds of millions of Tesla shares if he drives the company's market value to $8.5 trillion, a figure that exceeds the current combined market caps of Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet.
Newsweek contacted Tesla for more information via email.
If the compensation plan is approved and the targets are met, Musk would receive an additional 423.7 million Tesla shares, potentially adding $900 billion to his current net worth, according to TIME. That would make him the highest-paid executive in history and the first person to surpass the thirteen-digit mark in personal wealth.
To receive the full payout, Musk must lead Tesla to a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion, up from its current $1.1 trillion value.
The goals include one million robotaxis in commercial operation and delivery of one million humanoid robots within ten years, as per ABC News.
The plan also ties Musk's compensation to the mass production of autonomous robotaxis and humanoid robots, technologies Tesla believes could redefine both transportation and labor. The vote on the pay package is expected at Tesla's upcoming annual shareholders meeting on November 6.
With a current net worth of approximately $430 billion, Musk would need to more than double his wealth through Tesla stock gains to reach the trillionaire mark.
"Retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla achieving these goals and becoming the most valuable company in history," board members Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Musk currently holds a 19.7 percent stake in Tesla and owns substantial shares in SpaceX and xAI.
However, his brief tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency in President Donald Trump's second administration, as well as his subsequent clashes with the president, have contributed to a decline in Tesla's profits in 2025, particularly in European sales.
Eric Schiffer, a top tech investor and the chair of the private equity firm Patriarch Organization, told Newsweek that Tesla's reputation could recover from Musk's time in government, saying: "The ties to DOGE, in time, and the negative sentiment around it will dissipate. Innovation and new products can recapture people's imagination, and recalibrate their view of his brand and that of Tesla."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, during an conference call in April, said he was "extremely optimistic about the future of the company," which will be "fundamentally based on large-scale autonomous cars and large-scale -- being large volume -- vast numbers of autonomous humanoid robots."
"The value of a company that makes truly useful autonomous humanoid robots and autonomous useful vehicles at scale, at low cost -- which is what Tesla is going to do -- is staggering," Musk continued. "I continue to believe that Tesla, with excellent execution, will be the most valuable company in the world by far."
Tesla shareholders will vote on the proposed compensation package during the company's annual meeting on November 6. If approved, the deal would legally bind Tesla to award Musk hundreds of billions in stock, conditional on hitting the highly ambitious goals.