Musk: If the salary isn't right, I won't be the CEO of Tesla anymore.

Elon Musk has reached his limit with tough talk this time, saying, "Whoever wants the job can have it."

The reason is that Tesla has introduced a new compensation plan worth trillions of dollars to retain its CEO.

However, with continuous doubts and concerns from the outside world, this plan seems to be shrouded in mystery before its formal vote and implementation.

Since joining Tesla, this CEO's path to getting paid has been full of twists and turns, with constant reversals. For the compensation plan proposed in 2018, Musk met all the targets ahead of schedule, yet he still hasn't received a single cent...

But this time, Musk can't stand it anymore. He said that if he doesn't get a high - paying compensation, he will leave Tesla. At least, he won't be the CEO anymore.

Musk: I'll Quit if I Don't Get Paid

The high - paying compensation that Musk mentioned refers to Tesla's new "Compensation OKR" designed for him recently, aiming to keep Musk for at least 10 years and ensure that he continues to steer the company as CEO.

However, to get the full pay, the performance targets are of epic and extremely difficult levels:

• Market value: It needs to nearly multiply by 8 times to reach $8.5 trillion (about 60.6 trillion yuan), surpassing the current global stock king, Nvidia.
• Profit: It needs to increase by nearly 24 times compared to 2024, reaching $400 billion (about 2.85 trillion yuan). The lowest level should also reach $50 billion (about 356.4 billion yuan).
• Products: Tesla needs to deliver a cumulative total of 20 million vehicles, complete 10 million active subscriptions for FSD, deliver 1 million Tesla robots, and put 1 million Robotaxis into operation.

If all the targets are unlocked, Musk's shareholding ratio in Tesla will increase from 13% to about 25%. Based on the market value of $8.5 trillion, the additional 12% of shares is worth $1 trillion, which is currently equivalent to about 71.3 trillion yuan in RMB.

As soon as this plan came out, the outside world was in an uproar because Tesla's compensation package is really astonishing.

To put it this way, the company is offering Musk the highest compensation plan in human history so far, exceeding the total profit of Tesla since its establishment. And Musk may become the first trillionaire in history at the age of 64.

Even if not all the targets are unlocked, according to Reuters' estimate, following the current development trend, Musk can at least get one or even two installments of compensation, worth about $20 billion - $40 billion (equivalent to about 71.1 billion - 142.3 billion yuan in RMB).

Therefore, there are a lot of concerns and objections from the outside world regarding this compensation plan. For example, a former Tesla employee questioned on the social platform X, believing that "the 2025 compensation plan offers too high a salary to the CEO" and that "it can hardly outperform inflation and will significantly lag behind the S&P 500 index."

He also said:

I firmly believe that other capable CEOs can drive Tesla to achieve the same growth at a lower investment cost.

Musk quickly replied under the tweet. Instead of directly addressing the concerns, he used Tesla's market value to explain everything:

Tesla's market value is higher than the sum of all other automobile companies. Which CEO do you want to lead Tesla? I won't step aside.

And he implied that if he doesn't get this money, he won't be Tesla's CEO anymore.

Should the Massive Pay Plan Be Approved? Public Opinion Is Divided

For more than a month since the compensation proposal was made public, there has been continuous controversy from the outside world, and public opinion is almost completely divided.

On one side, there is strong opposition, represented by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Generally speaking, the opinions of proxy voting advisory institutions are likely to influence the decisions of large institutional investors.

This company said that it is understandable that Tesla's board of directors wants to retain Musk, but the scale of the compensation is simply "astronomical."

Even if only some of the targets are achieved, the plan may still pay huge compensation to the CEO, and the equity of existing shareholders will be diluted.

Moreover, they believe that there are flaws in the plan design and a lack of an effective restraint and adjustment mechanism.

On the other side are the supporters of the plan's approval, including many Tesla shareholders.

Tesla's official account also posted a refutation of ISS, believing that the latter once again completely ignored the basic points of investment and governance, and called on everyone to support Tesla by voting on all proposals.

In addition, the one with the highest voice of support is "Cathie Wood", the founder of Ark Investment, Musk's biggest "fan."

She believes that the new compensation plan will be approved by an overwhelming majority. "Just like when the first vote was held for Musk's 2018 compensation plan, it was approved by an overwhelming majority."

She also expressed her views on X, saying:

At that time, Tesla was not included in any index. Now Tesla accounts for 2.4% of the S&P 500 index, and index funds are not enough to influence the voting results.

As for the final result of the compensation plan, it will be decided at the shareholders' meeting on November 6.

Musk has given a spoiler in advance that this year's shareholders' meeting will be very special. However, it may not only be because the compensation plan will be finalized at the meeting.

Musk and other Tesla executives will also present Tesla's latest product roadmap and strategic priorities during the presentation and Q&A session of the meeting.

Among them, it is very likely to include Tesla's new super - car that will make a comeback this year, Roadster 2.0.

Tesla's New Super - car to Debut This Year

The news comes from Tesla's chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen.

In a recent podcast, Franz talked about the latest progress of the electric sports car Roadster and confirmed that the second - generation new car will debut this year.

This Roadster 2.0, positioned as a four - seat convertible sports car, made its first appearance in 2017 and has attracted much attention over the years. It is almost always asked about at the annual earnings meetings.

However, due to supply chain and technological development reasons, as well as Tesla's past focus on Model 3 and Model Y, the release time of Roadster 2.0 has been postponed again and again.

Finally, at the end of this year, Roadster will make a comeback, and what will be displayed is no longer a prototype but a mass - producible and salable product. However, it will not be put into production until 2027.

According to Franz's description, this new car will have customized painting options, and its performance will be "extremely crazy," breaking the physical limits of road vehicles:

It includes accelerating from 0 - 100 km/h in less than 1 second, making it the fastest mass - produced car on land.

Moreover, FSD, which all Tesla models are pursuing, is not a feature of Roadster. Roadster aims to be "the last driver's car."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Intelligent Vehicle Reference" (ID: AI4Auto), author: Jessica. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.