REUTERS/Noah Berger
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who doesn’t take a salary from the company, has officially unlocked the first part of his $55 billion compensation package, the company said Thursday.
- Tesla announced in an updated regulatory filing that its board has certified the requirements — $20 billion in revenue and a sustained market cap of $100 billion — to unlock the first tranche of stock options available for Musk to purchase at a hefty discount.
- As of Thursday, the billionaire can buy 1,688,670 shares at $350.02 a piece, or 79% below the stock’s closing price Thursday. He must hold the shares for five years.
- The next 11 of the pay plan’s tranches involve progressively higher revenue, earnings targets, and market capitalizations, as approved by shareholders in 2018.
- Musk is worth some $40 billion on paper, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index, but the billionaire is “cash poor” and has relied on mortgages and loans for daily expenses because most of his wealth is held as Tesla stock, of which he is the largest owner.
- Read more about Musk’s elaborate compensation plan here.
