Tesla shareholders officially approved CEO Elon Musk’s record-breaking $1 trillion compensation plan during the company’s annual meeting held on Thursday, November 6, at its Austin, Texas headquarters. According to the final vote tally, an overwhelming 75% of shareholders backed the proposal, clearing the way for one of the largest executive pay packages in corporate history.
Originally proposed in September, the plan — dubbed the 2025 CEO Performance Award — ties Musk’s compensation entirely to Tesla achieving a series of ambitious performance milestones. Chief among them is an $8.5 trillion market capitalization target, along with goals related to revenue, profitability, and technological innovation. Musk will only receive the full award if Tesla hits every one of these benchmarks.
In the weeks leading up to Thursday’s vote, Tesla’s board launched a company-wide campaign urging investors to back the deal, highlighting the CEO’s role in generating “extraordinary shareholder returns” through Tesla’s unconventional approach and cautioning that Musk may not remain with the company if the vote fails. The company also encouraged investors to support all of management’s proposals at the meeting.
During the event, Musk also announced new details about Tesla’s upcoming products — including that Cybercab production is scheduled to begin in April 2026. The CEO added that the company plans to build a 1 million-unit Optimus humanoid robot production line at Fremont, followed by a 10 million-unit line at Giga Texas, signaling Tesla’s growing focus on robotics and AI as future growth engines.
While the $1 trillion pay plan sailed through with a decisive majority, the vote on a separate shareholder proposal to invest in Musk’s AI startup, xAI, remained inconclusive.
Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting marks a pivotal moment in the company’s history, underscoring investor confidence in Musk’s long-term vision of autonomy, robotaxis, and AI-driven manufacturing.
Stay tuned for more coverage of Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting.
