Elon Musk scores hat trick of Tesla compensation goals worth $23 billion

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Noel Randewichp

pReuters – With Teslas strong quarterly report on Wednesday, Chief Executive Elon Musk has scored a hat trick of performance goals worth a combined 23 billion in new compensation. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pThe worlds most valuable carmaker posted March quarter revenue and profit that surged past Wall Street estimates as it raised prices in response to inflation, offsetting the impact of a Shanghai factory shutdown.p

pMusk‘s latest compensation windfall, which must be certified by Tesla’s board, comes days after he offered to buy Twitter Inc for 43 billion, with analysts suggesting he could sell Tesla shares to help finance the deal. p

pMusk already is the worlds richest person, according to Forbes.p

pTesla reported quarterly revenue of 18.76 billion and socalled adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization EBITDA of 5.02 billion. Combined with the previous three quarters results, that surpasses milestones that trigger the vesting of the ninth through 11th of 12 tranches of options granted to Musk in his 2018 pay package. p

pMusk said Wednesday there were no discussions underway about incremental compensation. p

pMusk, who is also a major shareholder and CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, receives no salary at Tesla. His pay package requires Teslas market capitalization and financial growth to hit a series of escalating targets.p

pEach tranche gives Musk the option to buy 8.4 million Tesla shares at 70.01 each, a discount of about 90 from Wednesday‘s closing price of 977.20. At the stock’s current price, the three options tranches that will vest as a result of Teslas Marchquarter performance could generate a profit of about 23 billion, or almost 7.7 billion per tranche.p

pLate last year, Musk netted 16.4 billion from selling about 10 of his stake in Tesla to meet to meet tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options.p

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pp Reporting by Noel Randewich Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumakerp

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