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Tesla grants Elon Musk $29 billion pay deal amid escalating AI talent war
The pay package is contingent on a legal ruling due later this year.
Elon Musk's pay package is contingent on a legal ruling due later this year.
Tesla’s board of directors has awarded CEO Elon Musk a new compensation package valued at approximately $29 billion in shares, citing the “ever-intensifying AI talent war” and Tesla’s strategic position at a “critical inflection point”.
The payout will be made under Tesla’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, which has already been approved by shareholders and therefore will not require a fresh vote, according to a regulatory filing and legal experts including Ann Lipton of the University of Colorado Law School. However, the board confirmed that a longer-term CEO compensation strategy will be tabled for a vote during the company’s annual shareholder meeting in November, as reported by TechCrunch.
The pay package is contingent on a legal ruling due later this year. If the Delaware Supreme Court overturns a January 2024 decision that invalidated Musk’s earlier 2018 pay agreement—valued at roughly $56 billion—on grounds of poor corporate governance, then the new $29 billion plan will be voided, as reported by TechCrunch.
Musk has previously issued warnings that he may scale back his involvement in Tesla’s AI and robotics efforts unless he secures greater control over the company. These statements came at a time of heightened competition for AI talent across major tech firms, alongside a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the sector.
Meanwhile, Musk continues to develop his own artificial intelligence venture, xAI, which recently assumed ownership of his social media platform X. The development comes against a backdrop of stagnant Tesla sales growth and reputation issues for the brand, partly attributed to Musk’s alignment with the Trump administration.
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