On Friday , Musk cleared the final threshold for a third tranche of his moonshot award, pegged to Tesla’s financial and market value. The award comes amid the worst week for the automaker’s stock since July. A Friday afternoon rally in the automaker’s stock price ended a three-day rout that saw the company’s market capitalization drop by almost $90 billion from its all-time high on Monday.
The latest sum, which is roughly worth $2.9 billion after accounting for the cost of exercising the options, is more reminiscent of the hauls collected by hedge fund managers in rare blowout years than the $15-million-a-year packages awarded to the typical S&P 500 chief executive officer.