Tesla shareholders just handed Elon Musk eye-popping pay package

Tesla shareholders agreed to hand over billions of dollars in stock awa💎rds to Elon Musk if the tech tycoon manages to populaꦦrize his electric cars over the next decade.

Tesla’s hard-charging chief executive could take home as much as $55.8 billion in stock over the next 10 years — or nothing, according to a controversial comp♏ensation plan that was 🦂approved on Wednesday.

Mus🤪k would get the maximum payout only if he manages to deliver on Tesla’s eye-popping growth projections and drive Tesla’s market value to $650 billion — just short of th𓆏e current value of Microsoft, the second-most-valuable company next to Apple.

The award, worth $2.6 billion at current valuations, will increase if Musk manages to clear 12 hurdles along the way to a $650 billion valuation — most of ꧒them in $50 billion increments.

For example, if Tesla hits a $100 billion ma💜rket cap, Musk will earn $1.4 billion in stocꦇk.

Tesla was valued at about $52.46 billion at Tuesday’s closing price, according to Thomson Reut🌸ers data. Its shares have fallen nearly 12 percent since the pay plan for Musk was announced.

A Tesla spokesperson confirmed that shareholders had approved the measure — despite stiff opposition from some big investors and proxy advisory firm ISS — at a special shareholders’ meeting in Fremont, Calif., but did not disclose the number of votes for or against.

A smaller investor, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), opposed the ♔award, arguing tℱhat potential dilution to shareholders is too great.

“We have concerns about the lack of focus on profitability for the company, and the one profitability metric that is used excludes the cost of stock-based compensation,” CalSTRS’ director of  corporate governance, Anne Sheehan, said in a statement.

With Reuters