Elon Musk defends $1 trillion pay package: ‘I don’t feel comfortable building an army of robots here and then getting fired’

“I don’t feel comfortable building an army of robots here and then getting fired because of some foolish recommendation from ISS and Glass Lewis who have no idea. I mean, these guys are corporate terrorists,” Musk said Wednesday on Tesla’s quarterly earnings call, referring to the agency’s advisory services. He urged investors to refuse Payment plan.

the an offer It will give Musk up to $1 trillion worth of stock if he meets key performance goals, including growing the company to a market value of $8.5 trillion, an increase of more than 500% from today’s valuation. Musk insisted that the package is not about personal gain, but rather about ensuring he retains enough influence to direct Tesla’s next chapter, which is focused on… Amnesty International, robotaxisand Humanoid robots. If approved, Musk’s stake could rise from 13% to nearly 29%.

“It’s called compensation, but it’s not like I’m going to go spend money,” Musk added. “It’s just, if we build this robot army, will I at least have a strong influence over this robot army, not current control, but a strong influence? That’s what it means in a nutshell. I don’t feel comfortable using this robot army if I don’t at least have a strong influence.”

Musk admitted that controlling voting in the mid-20s percent range would help secure “strong influence,” but would give shareholders enough control to fire him if he became “crazy.”

Musk’s net worth is about $455 billion BloombergBillionaires Index.

Musk may soon be crowned first king of the trillion club

Tesla’s board announced Musk’s ambitious executive pay plan in September. If approved at the company’s annual meeting on November 6, more than 420 million shares of the electric car company’s stock would be gradually paid to Musk — and that’s only if he can do so. Achieving the company’s growth plansWhich includes 20 million Tesla vehicles delivered and 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation.

At the time of the announcement, Tesla’s stock price was down nearly 10% for the year, and the board felt the long-term CEO performance award would “retain Elon and motivate him to focus his energies.”

“While we believe Elon is the only person capable of leading Tesla at this critical inflection point, changing the world is neither an overnight process nor the work of one person,” Tesla’s board of directors wrote in an article. Message to shareholders. “So, we also want to help you secure the team and strategy needed to achieve goals that others may find impossible but that we know are possible for Tesla.”

Since then, Tesla stock has rebounded, now up more than 15% year to date.

Musk has it He has long sought more control At Tesla, wrangling complex innovations requires significant influence over the company.

“I don’t feel comfortable growing Tesla into a leader in AI and robotics without having roughly 25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be unseated,” Musk said. Written on X “Unless that’s the case, I’d rather build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand that Tesla is not one startup, but dozens of companies. Just look at the delta between what Tesla and GM are doing.”