Tesla’s all-time amassed web revenue is much beneath the $55 billion CEO compensation package deal Elon Musk is making an attempt to safe.
We constructed a tracker to comply with Tesla’s revenue catching as much as Musk’s compensation, which appears like a ridiculous factor to say a few main firm.
Musk’s legal professionals lately launched a second effort to reinstate his 2018 Tesla CEO compensation plan, which is value $55 billion in Tesla shares, by a sponsored state invoice on high of the Delaware Supreme Court docket attraction.
A Delaware decide canceled the package deal after legal professionals sued on behalf of Tesla shareholders. The decide decided that Tesla wasn’t upfront when it offered the package deal to shareholders as Musk was answerable for Tesla’s board and principally “negotiated” the package deal with himself.
Musk claimed that the decide’s choice was politically motivated, however he by no means instantly addressed any of the governance points highlighted within the choice.
Whatever the advantage of the case, there’s a metric that’s arduous to argue with regards to the compensation package deal: it’s value greater than Tesla’s total amassed web revenue since inception.
We created a tracker to test the progress on when Tesla’s web revenue might attain the extent of Musk’s compensation plan:
Tesla’s web revenue
since inception
Tesla earns
$222.5/sec
$0
0% of $55B
Projected to achieve $55B: …
Based mostly on Tesla’s amassed web revenue as of Jan 1, 2025
As of now, Tesla’s web revenue will attain $55 billion across the finish of 2027. That’s primarily based on Tesla’s 2024 web revenue, which was down 50% in comparison with 2023.
If Musk’s attraction is profitable, Tesla would have given its CEO the equal of 1.6 occasions its web revenue since inception.
We’ll replace the tracker each quarter with a unique fee primarily based on the most recent web revenue.
Electrek’s Take
In different phrases, Tesla plans to present Elon Musk extra money than it has positively generated since its inception.
Individuals typically wish to justify Musk’s outrageous compensation package deal by evaluating it to Tesla’s rise in inventory value, however that’s not the suitable metric. The inventory value and firm valuation are purely primarily based on what persons are keen to pay for it.
The corporate’s web revenue is the one correct metric to comply with Tesla’s income:
| 12 months | Web Revenue (USD Tens of millions) |
|---|---|
| 2003 | – (n/a) |
| 2004 | -2.4 |
| 2005 | -11.6 |
| 2006 | -30.0 |
| 2007 | -78.2 |
| 2008 | -82.8 |
| 2009 | -55.7 |
| 2010 | -154.3 |
| 2011 | -254.4 |
| 2012 | -396.2 |
| 2013 | -74 |
| 2014 | -294 |
| 2015 | -889 |
| 2016 | -675 |
| 2017 | -1,962 |
| 2018 | -976 |
| 2019 | -862 |
| 2020 | 690 |
| 2021 | 5,524 |
| 2022 | 12,583 |
| 2023 | 14,999 |
| 2024 | 7,130 |
If it wasn’t for the Delaware decide, Musk would have already got the package deal as of early final yr when Tesla’s web revenue was at lower than half of his package deal.
Based mostly on the most recent estimates for the primary quarter, I might anticipate the completion date to $55 billion to be pushed into the following decade.
It provides worth to the argument of Musk’s critics that Tesla is his private piggy financial institution.
