Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk is seen during the opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China on Jan. 7, 2020.Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk is coming close to earning the first $346 million tranche of options in a record-breaking pay package, after the electric vehicle maker’s stock more than doubled in the last three months.
A full payoff for Musk, who is also the majority owner and CEO of the SpaceX rocket maker, would surpass anything previously granted to U.S. executives, according Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisor that recommended investors reject the pay package deal at the time. Musk’s potential payout compares to the $638 million received by Snap Inc founder Evan Spiegel in 2017 after the social network company’s initial public offering. In 2018, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger earned stock grants worth as much as $149.6 million, including awards related to Disney’s purchase of film and television assets from Twenty-First Century Fox.
Tesla was valued at about $53 billion when shareholders approved the pay package in January 2018 and faced a cash crunch, production delays and increasing competition from rivals. It was viewed as massively ambitious because it implied the company’s value could grow as much as tenfold in 10 years.