Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package had a huge ‘delivery problem’, and how Tesla-SpaceX merger may solve it
Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package is back in focus. A clause buried inside Tesla’s CEO compensation agreement suggests that a future merger with his rocket company SpaceX could remove one of the biggest hurdles to the world’s richest man’s record-setting stock award. The agreement effectively has a “delivery problem” built into it: several of the package’s operational milestones disappear if Tesla is acquired, leaving the acquisition price to determine how much of the award Musk ultimately receives.
Tesla shareholders approved Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package in 2025, with the potential value now estimated at about $824 billion due to changes in the company’s share count.
