Tesla has granted CEO Elon Musk shares worth nearly $30 billion as part of a new pay deal to keep him at the helm, after the billionaire threatened to walk away from the electric carmaker if he wasn’t given more stock.
Musk’s ultimatum followed a 2024 Delaware court ruling that voided a proposed $50 billion pay package — which would have been the biggest in US history — citing an unfair board approval process. Musk is currently appealing the decision.
The decision to award Musk 96 million shares comes as Tesla faces one of its worst sales streaks, with purchases of its vehicles pushed lower by rising competition, government cuts to EV subsidies, and Musk’s polarizing politics.
At the same time, the South Africa-born billionaire is shifting the company’s focus from affordable EVs to robotaxis and humanoid robots, repositioning Tesla as an AI and robotics powerhouse rather than an automaker.