Musk could leave Tesla if $1 trillion pay plan is rejected, chair warns

[groundloop]

Source: Reuters

Elon Musk could leave Tesla as CEO if his proposed $1 trillion pay package was not approved, Chair Robyn Denholm warned in a letter to shareholders on Monday.

The appeal comes ahead of the November 6 annual meeting, with Tesla's board having faced repeated criticism for not acting in shareholders' best interests and governance experts and advocacy groups questioning its independence and oversight of Musk's influence.

The proposed performance-based plan was designed to retain and motivate Musk to continue leading Tesla for at least another seven-and-a-half years, Denholm said in the letter.

Musk's leadership was "critical" to Tesla's success, she said, and warned that without a plan that properly incentivizes him, the company could lose his "time, talent and vision". Musk's role was vital as Tesla seeks to become a global leader in artificial intelligence and autonomous technology, she said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/musk-could-leave-tesla-if-1-trillion-pay-plan-is-rejected-chair-warns-2025-10-27/

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If Eloon needs a TRILLION fucking dollars to stay motivated to do his job they'd be far better off without him. Hell, I can't even comprehend that much money.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. They say that like it's a bad thing.

Call his bluff.

[AZ8theist]

59. NOBODY is worth a trillion dollars. NOBODY.

[purr-rat beauty]

2. Honestly...

They might regain the public's respect if they don't give in. Fuck him.

[Bluetus]

33. I am not sure the company is salvageable

They have nothing significant in the pipeline and zero prospects of ever generating a trillion dollars of profits.

Yes, Musk wants to be paid in stock rather than cash. That doesn't really change things,. It just means the shareholders will eventually lose most of their share value.

[Deuxcents]

3. Didn't he just get a big pay bonus?

[popsdenver]

47. His Tesla company is toast

he is just looking for a way to cash out his stock and run before it crashes........

[pimpbot]

4. Robyn Denholm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Denholm

In November 2018, Denholm was chosen by Elon Musk to succeed him as chair of Tesla. Prior to her appointment, she was relatively unknown. She is the highest-paid chair of any public company in the United States.

Denholm joined Tesla’s board in 2014 as a director and chair of the audit committee, receiving approximately US$17 million in stock options during her tenure.

Denholm was appointed chair of Tesla in November 2018, following a settlement between Tesla, Elon Musk, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring Musk to step down from the role after his controversial 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private. By March 2025, she had reportedly received $682 million in cash and stock awards since joining Tesla and had sold approximately $532 million worth of stock. Denholm has faced scrutiny, including judicial criticism, over her independence as Chair, and the outsized compensation packages awarded to her and to Musk, which she has defended pointing out that Tesla’s market value increased substantially under their leadership.


So she knows where the bodies are buried and her and Musk scratch each others backs to keep the money flowing. Amazing how these grifters operate out in the open. Also she is Australian so if the shit hits the fan she wont be going to prison, at least not in the US.

[Autumn]

5. Is she one of his baby mammas?

[AZJonnie]

6. This Chenholm lady seems to be vying for the venerable "Up-Someones-Ass Award"

She's valiantly trying to outdo Trump sycophants like Scott Bessent, Kristi Noem, and that irrelevant Faux Nooz personality who purportedly runs the Department of Defense, I forget his name.

[LPBBEAR]

7. Be smart Tesla

Dump the asshole and coast on the trillion dollars you'll save until the stink of his reputation fades and you become profitable again.

(They won't be smart)

[ironman99]

8. Give me...

Give me 0.1% per year of what Nasty Smell wants and I show you how attentive I can be to running Tesla. In fact I would probably be more attentive than that illegal immigrant has ever been.

[Redleg]

9. It's a dick measuring contest for Elon

He ought to pay Tesla for the harm he has done them.

[Irish_Dem]

10. That'd make me so mad if my boss wouldn't pay me $1 Trillion.

I'd quit too.

[ironman99]

11. Give bad smell

Give me 0.1% per year of what nasty smell wants, and I'll show you how attentive I can be at running Tesla. It is obvious that Nasty Smell doesn't give a fig about a business he stole from the actual founders.

[travelingthrulife]

12. Oh Noes! Not illegal immigrant Musk!

He is a drugged out nutcase white supremacist.

[rampartd]

13. how many of his self destructive vehicles does he have to sell to net a trillion?

if that answer is "more than can be made or delivered before i want more money" ..............

[QueerDuck]

14. Tesla's brand is tarnished forever. Whether he stays or leaves will not make ANY difference in the near term...

and probably in the long term too.

[cstanleytech]

15. Musk is a long term poison pill for Tesla.

[Wonder Why]

16. Please leave and take the first starship to Mars - by next week!

[Cheezoholic]

19. Hell they only keep him around that space company as a yard ornament. He has no value there either lol n/t

[Torchlight]

17. Kicking Musk to the curb could let Tesla get out from under his "New Coke" rebranding of the company

and get their sales going in a positive direction. But my guess is he gets the money and maintains his weird cult-of-personality management style currently killing the company.

[Martin68]

18. Musk is a liability, not an asset. Can the fucker.

[nilram]

20. oooh, I'll buy TSLA now

Just so I can vote against it!

[JoseBalow]

21. Sounds like another good reason to tell Elon to fuck off

A trillion dollars comes to more than $7,500 for every US household, or about $4,000 per adult.

[littlemissmartypants]

26. How much each is it (if we put it in a protected high yield account) for every child in America...

Including the immigrants? Ballparking of course...

Can you please give us that number? ❤️

[JoseBalow]

29. Based on a population estimate of 347.3 million people

a trillion dollars would come to $2,879 per person.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states

[maxsolomon]

31. Tesla sells overseas, too.

Europe, Asia.

[JoseBalow]

34. Sorry, my calculator doesn't do metric

[Smilo]

22. So nothing bad will come of it

in fact, it's a win for Tesla.

[Gore1FL]

23. Save a trillion dollars and lose Musk?

Where is the downside of that arrangement?

[eppur_se_muova]

70. I know, really ? nt

[Tranquil72]

24. It's called Founders Syndrome

… and Musk has a case of it for the ages. He and his tame board have convinced themselves that his businesses have no future without the force of his vision and personality. In fact, the opposite is true. They’re choking with the effort of compensating for the bad decisions he’s making, seemingly on a daily basis. I think his investors would be relieved if Elon departed, and they had the opportunity to hire a sane person in his stead.

He’s not the first executive to fall victim to the syndrome, and he won’t be the last. But expecting him to recognize and correct his own eccentric behavior is like waiting for a drunk on a binge to suddenly decide he’s had enough, and it’s time to get sober.

[fujiyamasan]

51. Getting rid of him would allow a fresh start

He single handedly turned off much of his customer base in the US (did he think MAGAts would suddenly rush out to buy EVs?). His Nazi antics turned away Europe altogether.

People forget that Musk wasn’t even the founder, or a founder for that matter. He was added after his major investment. I’m not saying the company would have survived without his investment. It likely was pivotal and they eventually were able to shift from making it a novelty based off a Lotus sports car to an actual mass produced vehicle.

But that was also before Musk went completely insane, got hooked on ketamine, and decided to dedicate a chunk of his life’s fortune to fascism.

[niyad]

60. Since the illegal SA nazi is NOT either Martin Eberhard or Mark

Tarpennning, technically he is NOT one of the founders. But he brought in money, there was a lawsuit, and he got to legally call himself a "co-founder". He did not invent tesla, he only bought it.

[Warpy]

25. While I'd love to see that car company hung around his neck

as all the innovation heappens elsewhere and Tesal crashes and burns, I don't see how or why that kind of a pay package can be justified.

[NJCher]

58. which is why the board

leaves themselves open to a shareholder derivative suit if they let this happen.

[ShazamIam]

27. No one and nothing else did more harm to Tesla than that Musk salute. I don't think Tesla will recover anytime soon. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

28. With all the shares he already owns? He'll leave and allow others to manage the company?

Who cooks up this BS?

[Permanut]

30. Only ONE trillion?

Only ONE?

I'd hold out for 10.

[C_U_L8R]

32. "How to Save a Trillion Dollars in One Simple Step"

Must reading for any board director.

[Joinfortmill]

35. WTF? What an obscenity.

[jmowreader]

36. From the Tesla Board Meeting...

"Pay me a trillion dollars a year or I'll resign!"
"We, the members of the Tesla Board of Directors, hereby accept your immediate resignation."

[reACTIONary]

37. What a deal! Get rid of Musk without having...

... to launch a golden parachute.

Let him self deport!

[mdbl]

38. WTF. He's the greediest fucker on the planet.

And I'll NEVER buy a Tesla.

[republianmushroom]

39. And Musk leaving is a bad thing ?

[VanceFan]

40. Good

And then deport him.

[evolves]

41. Don't let the door

hit you in the ass on your way out, muskrat.

[LostOne4Ever]

42. Bon de'barras

He won’t be missed!

[TygrBright]

43. What a great deal for Tesla! Save a buncha money AND ditch a parasite. n/t

[CaptainTruth]

44. At this point I'd think they'd pay him to leave.

Wait... I may have misinterpreted those comments... "Musk could leave Tesla" - Is that a threat or a promise?

[live love laugh]

45. Soap opera performative BS is all this is. Fuck the megarich.

[ToxMarz]

46. A $1 trillion pay plan is just an "ego merit badge" for Musky dude

It's like why tRump sues everyone for $10 BILLION DOLLARS. It's sharks with friggin LASER BEAMS. It's not whether he ever collects that, though he will try to get it if they are foolish enough. Just the official ratification/announcement is all his disciples need to pronounce him the worlds first trillionaire, to drive the markets MAD for everything he touches, and that is every reason for them to continue worshiping him. Perception IS reality!!!!!!! There's more money to be made grifting or down right stealing than earning.

[Aussie105]

48. Tesla is in decline.

The enthusiasm for owning a Tesla has waned, and the competition from Chinese makers is escalating.

This is just one way for Musk to walk away with a lot of money before things collapse.

[byronius]

52. It was on my list.

Now I wouldn’t let one park in front of my house.

[Mblaze]

49. If you counted $1 per second

Last edited Tue Oct 28, 2025, 12:37 AM - Edit history (4)

It would take 12 days to get $1 million

It would take 32 years to get $1 billion

It would take 31,700 years to get $1 trillion

$525,600 dollars a year for 31,700 years.

$222,222,222 per year since the great pyramids of Giza were built.

[BidenRocks]

50. Remember when Bill Gates left Microsoft?

That company tanked so fast!

What? It didn't?

Bye Elon! Now Nikola can get his name back.

[area51]

53. Don't threaten us w/a good time.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

54. Shareholders need to reject this plan and get rid of musk

[slightlv]

55. NO ONE is worth that amount of money as part of a "pay incentive" package!

If they think they need Elon, give him a great package -- especially in non-monetary assets as an incentive. If he can't live on that exorbitant amount, then he's not really a "creator" he's a grifter. And they'll never get their money's worth from a grifter. Frankly, I think Elon should concentrate on his Mars mission, and make sure he's among the very first ones who colonize Mars (anything to get him off this planet!).

[Bev54]

56. Tesla may not be around in 10 years anyway.

[C Moon]

57. The baby is always threatening when he doesn't get his way.

[Demobrat]

61. With that much money they could hire

rooms full of brilliant people. What on earth makes them think that one crazy man is irreplaceable?

[HappyLarge]

62. Bye, Felicia!

Tesla would do well to let Elon go. He’s a drain on the brand.

[GReedDiamond]

63. So, is that 1 Trillion Dollars a year, or for the rest of his despicable life?

Either is extremely absurd, times a trillion.

[JohnnyRingo]

64. Wow! How much is that after taxes?

Yeah, I crack myself up.

[GReedDiamond]

65. After taxes, it's 2 or 3 trillion, tax free.

I'm cracked up, thanks JR.

[JohnnyRingo]

68. Yes, I forgot

You have to add the taxes on in that bracket

[Javaman]

66. sounds like empty husk is looking for an excuse to leave. nt

[maxrandb]

67. Don't threaten me with a good time!

[KPN]

69. So reject it! Nobody deserves a 1 trillion $ pay

plan. Geesh! What the hell is wrong with these money hoarders? Have they any conscience whatsoever?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

71. Musk cost Tesla one million car sales

Link to tweet

[flvegan]

72. Isn't much of Musk's "wealth" based on the value of his Tesla stock?

If so, and he leaves Tesla, subsequently tanking the stock, he harms himself more than anyone else.

Is that likely to happen?