Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, is now poised to make financial history on a scale never seen before. Tesla’s board of directors has unveiled a new pay proposal that, if approved and executed, could see Musk become the first trillionaire in the world. The plan, detailed in a proxy statement released on Friday, September 5, 2025, would grant Musk a staggering 423.7 million additional Tesla shares—worth $143.5 billion at today’s prices—if he can drive the company’s market value from its current $1.1 trillion to an eye-watering $8.5 trillion over the next decade.
According to CNN Business, this potential windfall would not come easy. Musk, who already helms Tesla and SpaceX and holds stakes in companies like xAI, would need to stay at Tesla for at least ten more years to receive the full payout. The proposal is not just about rewarding Musk for past performance; it is designed as a bold incentive to keep him at the company’s helm and to push Tesla to unprecedented heights. As Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, members of Tesla’s board, wrote in a letter to shareholders, “Retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla achieving these goals and becoming the most valuable company in history.”
But before Musk can start counting his theoretical trillions, there are significant hurdles to clear. The pay package must be approved by Tesla’s shareholders, with a vote expected at the annual meeting scheduled for November 6, 2025. The plan’s scale and ambition have already sparked debate among investors. According to The Washington Post, some shareholders have voiced concerns in the past about Musk’s political entanglements and whether his attention is too divided among his many ventures. In fact, the last time Tesla shareholders approved a similar compensation plan in 2018, it was challenged in court, and earlier this year, a Delaware judge struck down that package, which could have seen Musk earn more than $50 billion.
The new proposal dwarfs even that record-setting deal. If Musk succeeds in meeting all the conditions, the payout could add roughly $900 billion to his current net worth. As of Friday, Forbes reported Musk’s net worth at $430 billion, making him the richest person on the planet by a wide margin. He is trailed by Oracle’s Larry Ellison at $282.2 billion, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg at $257.2 billion, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at $244.5 billion, and Google co-founder Larry Page at $194.3 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.
What exactly does Musk need to achieve to unlock this historic reward? The plan lays out several ambitious benchmarks. First and foremost, Tesla’s market capitalization must soar from $1.1 trillion to $8.5 trillion by 2035. To put that in perspective, as Tesla noted in its proxy statement, this would make the company “approximately equal to the combined market capitalizations of each of Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet.” That’s no small feat, especially as competition in the electric vehicle and artificial intelligence sectors intensifies.
Other milestones are equally daunting. According to ABC News and Business Insider, Tesla would need to reach 20 million vehicle deliveries—a tenfold increase from its current annual output, which was less than 2 million last year. The company must also deploy 1 million autonomous robotaxis in commercial operation and deliver 1 million artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots. The latter is a particularly futuristic goal, but Tesla is already investing heavily in this area. The pay plan highlights the potential of the humanoid robot industry, citing leading research analysts who estimate it could grow to $4.7 trillion in global sales by 2050. Tesla’s own project, Optimus, is described as a humanoid bot with the “long-term vision of transforming labor and productivity both commercially and in homes.”
While these targets are undeniably ambitious, they are not without precedent in Musk’s career. The entrepreneur’s fortune has skyrocketed over the past decade, growing from just under $5 billion in 2013 to nearly $430 billion today. His wealth is largely tied to his 13% stake in Tesla, but his holdings in private companies like SpaceX (42% stake) and xAI Holdings (33% stake) also contribute significantly. As Business Insider points out, Musk is now more than $100 billion wealthier than his closest rival.
Still, the road ahead is anything but smooth. Tesla’s shares have dropped 25% this year, a decline attributed in part to the backlash from Musk’s political activities, including his affiliation with President Donald Trump. The company is also facing mounting competition from established automakers and new entrants alike, all racing to perfect self-driving technology and robotics. The pay plan does not restrict Musk from engaging in his other ventures or political pursuits, a point that some investors have flagged as a potential risk.
Beyond the business implications, the sheer scale of the potential payout has captured the public’s imagination. A trillion dollars is almost impossible to conceptualize. As Thought Co. explains, a trillion is a million multiplied by a million, or a billion multiplied by one thousand. One trillion seconds is equivalent to 32,000 years. If a trillion dollars were divided equally among every person in the United States, each would receive just over $3,000.
For Musk to receive any of the shares, he must remain at Tesla for at least seven and a half years, with the full amount contingent on a ten-year tenure. The proposal also requires him to create a framework for succession, ensuring that Tesla’s leadership remains strong even if he eventually steps down. If approved, the package would give Musk more voting power over the company, further cementing his influence over Tesla’s direction for years to come.
As the shareholder vote approaches, the world will be watching. If Musk manages to pull off this unprecedented feat, he will not only set a new standard for executive compensation, but also redefine what’s possible in the corporate world. Whether the proposal proves to be a stroke of genius or a case of overreach remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the stakes have never been higher for Tesla, its shareholders, and the man at its helm.
With the outcome hanging in the balance, the business world is left to wonder—can Elon Musk truly turn Tesla into an $8.5 trillion juggernaut and become the first trillionaire? Only time, and perhaps a bit of Muskian magic, will tell.
