California (The COW News Digital) Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly threatened to step down from his role if shareholders fail to approve his proposed $1 trillion performance-based compensation package — a move that has sparked intense debate across corporate and investor circles.
The warning was revealed in a letter sent to Tesla shareholders by the company’s chairperson, Robyn Denholm, on Monday. In the letter, Denholm emphasized that the proposed pay plan is essential to keeping Musk focused on leading Tesla over the next seven and a half years, a period that she described as “crucial” to the company’s long-term innovation goals.
“The package is designed to motivate Elon to continue dedicating his time, energy, and vision to Tesla’s success,” Denholm wrote. “Without the right incentives, we risk losing his unparalleled leadership at a time when Tesla is entering a defining era in artificial intelligence and autonomous technology.”
The proposed package includes 12 tranches of stock options tied to specific performance milestones — ranging from achieving a market valuation of $8.5 trillion to breakthroughs in self-driving vehicles and robotics. These targets, if met, would position Tesla as one of the most valuable and technologically advanced corporations in the world.
Denholm further urged shareholders to support not only Musk’s compensation plan but also the re-election of three board directors who have worked closely with him for years. She described their continued collaboration as “vital to Tesla’s innovation-driven strategy.”
The latest development follows a major setback for Musk earlier this year, when a Delaware court invalidated his previous 2018 pay package, ruling that it had been improperly approved by a board lacking sufficient independence. That decision reignited discussions about executive compensation, corporate governance, and Musk’s influence over Tesla’s board.
Musk’s potential exit would mark a seismic shift for the electric vehicle giant, whose identity and success are closely tied to his leadership and personal brand. Industry analysts suggest that the threat could be both a negotiation tactic and a signal of Musk’s growing frustration with regulatory and legal constraints.
As Tesla pushes further into AI, robotics, and full self-driving technology, shareholders now face a critical choice: back Musk’s ambitious vision — or risk losing the man who built it.
