Tesla’s Elon Musk Sees Option Haul Increase to Nearly $9 Billion After Third Payout

Despite Tesla’s setback this week due to its stock split, CEO Elon Musk still pulled in an impressive payout of $8.8 billion. Musk’s option payout, tied to the value of Tesla’s stock, came amid the roughest week for the company’s stock since July.

After Tesla’s market cap hit an all-time high on Monday, the value of the company experienced a three-day divebomb of around $90 billion. The stock did, however, come back up in value around Friday afternoon just in time for Musk’s payout.

This being the third tranche of the CEO’s award, Bloomberg reports he unlocked another 8.44 million shares to add to the 16.9 million he was awarded in May and July, adjusting for Tesla’s 5-to-1 stock split on Monday. Musk would reap the multibillion-dollar windfall if he chose to immediately exercise the options and sell off the shares.

The most recent payout, roughly valued at $2.9 billion after accounting for the costs of exercising and selling the shares, seems more like that of a hedge fund manager in blowout years than what you typically see of S&P 500 CEOs. Tesla did not get added to the S&P on Friday, getting snubbed by the index.

However, Tesla has always shown great faith in Musk, promising astronomical payouts if he achieves certain goals, and investors have willingly agreed to the CEO’s extravagant compensation packages.