Unfathomable Greed and Abject Toadyism

Tesla’s board is asking investors to approve a new pay package for Chief Executive Elon Musk that could be worth as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

The proposed arrangements could see Musk, already the world’s wealthiest individual, awarded various installments of shares dependent on Tesla hitting a series of milestones, according to a financial filing published Friday.

The maximum payout would represent a 12% stake in the company, contingent on milestones including Tesla reaching a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion. At that market value, such a stake would be worth slightly more than $1 trillion. Tesla’s current market value is just over $1 trillion.

President Trump on Thursday led leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies in a version of his cabinet meetings, in which each participant takes a turn thanking and praising him, this time for his efforts to promote investments in chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

Tech titans including Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said “thank you” to the president, with some laying out how much their companies plan to invest in the U.S. 

“Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president. It’s a very refreshing change,” Altman said. “I think it’s going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn’t be happening without your leadership.”

Cook said Apple is expected to invest $600 billion in the U.S. “I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we can make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing here. I think it says a lot about your leadership and focus on innovation,” Cook said.