Elon Musk is already the world's richest man, but he's set to bank even more cash in the form of a historic pay package totalling over $1,000,000,000,000.
You're probably thinking that is a hell of a lot of zeros, and you'd be absolutely right; it's actually $1 trillion, which sounds ridiculous to even say, but it is true.
Love him or hate him, Musk will probably go down in history thanks to his work in the world of science and technology.
His Tesla and SpaceX companies have both done extraordinarily well, even if stocks dropped significantly after his friendship with President Donald Trump became more apparent.
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Such is the success of Tesla that the electric car and clean energy company is expected to hand over up to $1 trillion in stocks, spread over the next decade, to whoever wins a vote between shareholders today (6 November).
Results will be confirmed after the company's general meeting in Austin today, but it looks unlikely that anyone other than Musk will win, thanks to his substantial ownership and a hefty base of retail investors who almost always vote with the CEO.
Baron Capital’s Ron Baron said: “Elon is the ultimate ‘key man’ of key man risk. Without his relentless drive and uncompromising standards, there would be no Tesla.”
Others have suggested that Musk is crucial to the company's future, particularly when it comes to competing with the growth of robotics and AI.
However, there has been some opposition, with one of Tesla's top shareholders, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), instead suggesting that they would vote against Musk.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk — consistent with our views on executive compensation,” NBIM said in a statement this week.
What a win would mean for Musk
Tesla is already a trillion-dollar company, and the issue of these extra stocks would see Musk own around 25 percent of the company, having already put in $1 billion of his own money earlier this year to put his company back in the green.
Should he win the vote, Musk would receive huge pay bonuses every time Tesla's value increases by $500 billion, meaning the company would have to hit a net worth of $8.5 trillion for him to earn the pay package in full.
Topics: Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX, Technology, Business, Money
James Moorhouse