Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, will collect a bonus of 23 billion dollars (17.6 billion British pounds), after the electric car company reported record quarterly profits.
Musk, who already has a fortune of approximately $ 249 billion, is on the line to pay off bonus shares after Tesla reached major milestones in stock prices and financial growth in its earnings on Wednesday night.
Tesla made an adjusted profit of $ 5 billion on revenue of $ 18.8 billion in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 81% over the same period a year earlier. The results, combined with rising Tesla stock prices, mean Musk has achieved the goals that should lead to a bonus payout of about $ 23 billion.
The company has outlined an outstanding deal for Musk in 2018, which will pay him an unprecedented record bonus of 55.8 billion dollars (40 billion British pounds) if he builds a business in a company worth 650 billion dollars within a decade.
It reached this stage early, in January 2020. Tesla today has a market value of $ 1.1 trillion, after a 1600% increase in its share price since the target was set in January 2018. Shares jumped 11% at the beginning of trading on Thursday to $ 10.60.
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This means that Musk, who does not collect a salary from Tesla, already had to unlock the last three parts of the bonus scheme of 12 tranches. Each tranche entitles Musk to buy 8.4 million shares of Tesla shares for $ 70, a huge discount from the current share price of $ 977. Its profit from each tranche could be $ 7.7 billion or a total of $ 23 billion. Payments must be signed by the board and it must hold the shares for five years before the sale.
Musk, who is trying to buy Twitter for more than $ 43 billion, said he was not in talks with Tesla’s board for a new bonus scheme after the deal ended in 2018. “There are no discussions about additional compensation for me.” , he said during the company’s profit talks with investors.
“The future is very exciting,” he added. “I have never been more optimistic or excited about Tesla’s future than I am now.”
Julia Davis, a member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, a group of super-rich people fighting for a more equal society, said Musk’s mega salary was the perfect answer to the question: “When does one have too much money?”
“What might a person with a $ 23 billion bonus need?” It is time to give meaning to big money, instead of allowing it to be just a number attached to a person. How many millions of people could be lifted out of the current fuel poverty through energy efficiency and renewables with this bonus – instead of giving one person an even greater fortune to play with God? ”
When Tesla unveiled the bonus plan in 2018, he said: “Elon will not receive any guaranteed compensation of any kind – no salary, no cash bonuses and no equity to acquire over time. Instead, Elon’s only compensation will be a reward for 100% risky performance, which ensures that he will only be compensated if Tesla and all our shareholders do extremely well.
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