Article Directory
So, let me get this straight. Tesla’s board, led by Chair Robyn Denholm, just sent out a letter to shareholders—a Warning! Elon Musk could leave as Tesla CEO if… - Chair Robyn Denholm to shareholders - ET Now—that basically amounts to a trillion-dollar ransom note. I can just picture them huddled around a mahogany table, the air thick with the smell of desperation and expensive coffee, workshopping the exact phrasing. "No, no, 'Elon requires this incentive' sounds too weak. Let's go with 'his leadership is critical and he might just walk.'"
They pulled the pin. The letter, warning that Elon Musk might pack his bags and leave if he doesn't get his new, monumental pay package, is a grenade tossed right into the middle of the annual shareholder meeting. And we're all just supposed to stand here and watch it, ticking away.
This ain't a business proposal. It’s a threat, plain and simple.
The Trillion-Dollar Hostage Note
Let’s break down the sheer audacity of this thing. The board wants shareholders to approve a pay package that could be worth up to a trillion dollars. A trillion. For a guy who is already worth $451 billion. The justification? To keep him "motivated" for another seven-and-a-half years. Motivated to do what, exactly? Conquer the solar system?
The package is tied to some truly stratospheric goals, like hitting an $8.5 trillion market cap. That’s more than Apple, Microsoft, and Google combined. It’s a number so large it feels like a typo. It’s like telling a marathon runner you’ll give them a bottle of water if they can just jog to the moon.
Denholm’s letter paints Musk as the indispensable genius, the Atlas holding up Tesla’s world. Without him, she implies, the whole grand vision of AI, robotics, and self-driving cars just... evaporates. The letter is a masterclass in corporate doublespeak, framing a gun to the head as a "retention strategy."
But here’s the part that really gets me. This is the same board that a Delaware court already spanked for being too cozy with Musk. The judge invalidated his 2018 pay package—a paltry $56 billion deal, chump change really—because the directors who approved it weren't independent. They were his buddies. Now they’re back, asking for an even bigger handout and urging shareholders to re-elect the very same long-serving directors.
This isn't a negotiation. No, 'negotiation' is the wrong word—this is a loyalty test. It's the corporate equivalent of a king demanding his subjects bend the knee, just to see who flinches. Are they really this scared of him leaving? Or is this just the only play they have left?
Is This Really About 'Motivation'?
I keep coming back to that word: "motivation." What does it even mean when you're talking about a man who could buy a medium-sized country with the money tucked between his couch cushions? I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it. This isn't about incentivizing a guy to show up to work in the morning.
This feels more like a power play. Musk already owns about 13% of Tesla. He’s been publicly complaining that he wants a bigger stake, around 25%, to feel comfortable building out the company's AI future. He doesn't want to be just another CEO; he wants unchecked control. This pay package, with its massive stock option grants, is the backdoor route to getting it. It’s a corporate coup dressed up as a compensation plan.
The whole situation is like watching the crew of a pirate ship beg their legendary, unhinged captain not to maroon himself on a deserted island. They keep offering him more and more of the treasure, pleading, "But Captain, you're the only one who can read the map!" Meanwhile, the captain is just staring at his reflection in a gold coin, wondering if he has enough power. It's absurd.
And the board is completely complicit. Their job is supposed to be protecting shareholder interests, not acting as Elon’s personal hype team. But here they are, carrying his water and telling investors that the sky will definately fall if Daddy Warbucks doesn't get his allowance. It's a complete failure of governance, and it’s happening in plain sight.
Maybe I’m the crazy one here. Maybe a single person really is worth more than the GDP of most nations. But when a board’s primary strategy is to tell you the guy in charge might take his ball and go home, you have to wonder who is actually running the show. Is anyone even steering this ship anymore?
Let's Call It What It Is
This isn't about keeping a visionary CEO engaged. It's about a board of directors that has been so thoroughly captured by a single personality that they've forgotten their fundamental duty. They aren't governing; they're enabling. They’re telling shareholders to pay the ransom because they’re too terrified to see what happens if they don’t. This vote on November 6 isn’t a choice between keeping Musk or losing him. It's a choice between continuing a farce or demanding a sliver of accountability. And honestly, I don't have much faith in which way it'll go.