Elon Musk To Stay At Tesla For Another Decade (arstechnica.com) 92
Thelasko writes: "On Tuesday, Tesla's board announced that it had convinced Musk to stay at the helm for another decade with a truly gargantuan performance-based pay package," reports Ars Technica. The pay package is in a series of 12 milestones based on market capitalization.
[The report notes the possibility that Musk could get nothing for a decade's work as Tesla's CEO if the company's stock never rises above $100 billion. However, Musk will get awarded with $1 billion -- 1 percent of the company's stock -- if the stock reaches a value of $100 billion and the company either achieves revenues of $20 billion or earnings of $1.5 billion.] "If the stock rises to $150 billion (and Musk reaches another revenue or profit target), Musk gets another 1 percent of the stock, which will be worth $1.5 billion," reports Ars. "That pattern continues in $50 billion increments until Tesla's stock rises above $650 billion -- at which point Musk will get a stock award worth $6.5 billion. Musk's stock awards will total $45 billion if he hits all 12 milestones."
I guess Musk will have to wait to move to Mars until 2028...
[The report notes the possibility that Musk could get nothing for a decade's work as Tesla's CEO if the company's stock never rises above $100 billion. However, Musk will get awarded with $1 billion -- 1 percent of the company's stock -- if the stock reaches a value of $100 billion and the company either achieves revenues of $20 billion or earnings of $1.5 billion.] "If the stock rises to $150 billion (and Musk reaches another revenue or profit target), Musk gets another 1 percent of the stock, which will be worth $1.5 billion," reports Ars. "That pattern continues in $50 billion increments until Tesla's stock rises above $650 billion -- at which point Musk will get a stock award worth $6.5 billion. Musk's stock awards will total $45 billion if he hits all 12 milestones."
I guess Musk will have to wait to move to Mars until 2028...
"government" ... corporate ... same thing. (Score:3, Insightful)
When each and everyone of your senators and congress people is basically a lobbyist for the corporations he has "strong ties" to (and came from, before) (and gets hired at, after) (and meets with all the time, to discuss plans) ... but the same thing doesn't happen to whatever groups we consider ourselves part of (Like the group of people who give a shit about human rights, or anything besides profit for profit's sake.) ... then there is no such thing as a US government in any sense that you and I mean.
I'm
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But we already have a well understood term for when corporate interests and governence overlap to such a strong degree: facism. All they need now is some mind of incompetant populist to act as ringmaster...
Re:Of course (Score:5, Informative)
actually he lobbies against government subsidies ... unlike the oil industry, which receives 8 billion a year in government subsidies. (fucking conservative hypocrites)
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Re: Of course (Score:2)
Re: Of course (Score:2)
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You should compare percentages of revenue against the government subsidy amounts you are complaining about. It's like the government is subsidizing a week of free lunches for them. It's really not that much, as the market for the oil industry is simply enormous. When you walk around in the land of giants, everything simply looks big.
You should really quit trotting that out as a talking point. It makes you look uninformed and gullable.
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You should compare percentages of revenue against the government subsidy amounts you are complaining about. It's like the government is subsidizing a week of free lunches for them. It's really not that much, as the market for the oil industry is simply enormous. When you walk around in the land of giants, everything simply looks big.
You should really quit trotting that out as a talking point. It makes you look uninformed and gullable.
If government subsidies for oil are in fact pocket change, then perhaps the greedy fucks still demanding taxpayer money can offer up a reasonable explanation as to why they need it.
None of the industries may need subsidies, but when compared to revenue it sure as shit makes the oil industry look the worst.
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So he's going to stop cashing the checks?
Re:Of course (Score:5, Interesting)
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Why would he? The subsidies would then simply allow his competitors to make cheaper electric cars. Just because you don't believe in a subsidy doesn't mean it even remotely makes sense to protest by voting with your wallet.
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Interesting pay for a company that isn't making any money (and actually losing it).
It'll die if the subsidies stop.
Re: Of course (Score:2)
Re: Of course (Score:2)
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China is simply going to subsidize until the $/watt is less than
You need to get out of your hole.
What is really interesting is the market cap (Score:2)
of Tesla compared to companies like say BMW, that actually sells more electric cars, makes a profit on them and such...
So for Tesla stock value at least Elon Musk has been great.
Re:What is really interesting is the market cap (Score:5, Interesting)
Tesla is more than just cars, and yes BMW is too, but Tesla is where it counts in the technological-sense. So investors are confident their investment will yield exponential returns from some new tech we havent seen or current/old tech we haven't seen utilized in a new way
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Similar investors are confident in their Bitcoin investments.
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if it helps heal your furious, ignorant, jealous heart, with all the money i've made mining cryptocurrency, i could hire a grammarian to proofread my posts. i don't really think it'd help your situation, though.
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Nobody cares. People made a lot of money who got in early on Beanie Babies, too.
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Tesla is where it counts in the technological-sense.
can you show any tesla inhouse developed technology worth something? like, literally, anything would count.
do they really have some sort of a technological advance against bmw? especially in manufacturing which is where the profits are at (or not). tesla has better robots? better metallurgy? better composite material understanding? I mean seriously, bmw is chock full of technology.
tesla doesn't have any new technology so what is it based on? on tweets musk made that some autopilot from 5 years now migh
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They're already being passed left and right by the traditional auto makes from Europe and Japan who know how to build a proper car and make small affordable electric models with a high range. Making batteries may be hard but as far as I know Tesla doesn't have any interesting new breakthrough knowledge about that. So no, I don't think Tesla will ever be a big player in electric cars once electric cars have really taken off and are becoming the norm.
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investors are confident their investment will yield exponential returns from some new tech we havent seen or current/old tech we haven't seen utilized in a new way
It could also be that investors are betting that Tesla is going to make it big on first-mover advantage and network effect.
Right now, all the electric cars are great second cars. For short trips around town, commuting to work, etc. a Nissan Leaf is great. But if you want to take a long road trip for any reason, you aren't taking that Nissan Leaf
Re: What is really interesting is the market cap (Score:2)
BMW sells more electric cars only if you count hybrids. As somebody who owns a Tesla and previously a hybrid Iâ(TM)ll tell you they are quite different, with the Tesla being far superior.
Also, every Model S and Model X Tesla sells at a profit. But they invest all of those profits, and much more, into R&D and expansion.
I have no issues with it (Score:3)
The board made the call, good for him
Just my 2 cents
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To build something no one else could even envision, all the in the know people will think your nuts
Yeah, yeah, so I didn’t think PayPal would ever amount to anything - quit rubbing my nose in it would’ja?
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Neither did I, but does it really amount to much? Okay, granted, I'm sure they make a ton of money, and they are a registered European Bank (in Luxembourg).
I remember it being touted as a "Online Wallet", I may remember incorrectly. You'd be able to pay in the real world using PayPal. That never happened. I wonder if there are really many PayPal accounts that have any significant amount of money on them.
From what I see they are mostly a credi
Re:Revenue OR profit? (Score:5, Funny)
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Since he's such a valuable asset, as a precaution he's not allowed to drive with Autopilot.
In the vicinity of fire stations, at any rate...
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What sort of incentive system relies only on revenue?
So Musk manages to get the company up to $20bn in revenue, but to do it creates losses of $30bn, and he still gets the stock? That's ludicrous.
Profit is an easier metric to game. All you need to do ramp up profits is slash spending and coast off the work generated by your prior investments.
But to grow revenue you need to actually convince people to give you money.
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Revenue is just as easy to bounce up. Have Tesla buy a thing manufactured by someone else, mark it down 50%, and sell it. Yes the company will be losing 20billion/yr, but revenues will be 20 too. They lose billions now, so it is not exactly a new model for them. The metric should be revenue AND profit over a period of 5 years.
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where is it today (Score:1)
so how far are these metrics today? and does he still get paid something every month or just waiting to see in 10 years?
How many shares of Elon does Tesla own? (Score:2)
His money where his mouth is. (Score:2)
It's not often you see an executive who doesn't have a Golden Parachute.
This is cool. I wonder what he has planned?
Re:His money where his mouth is. (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly. Not only that, he doesn't get anything unless he hits goals that are outlandish.
Of course, what isn't said here is that this portion of his pay is just token pocket change.
His true pay is the increase in value of his 27% stake in the company. Tesla's market cap today is $59.29B. So, Musk's portion of that is about $16B. If the market cap hits $100B, his 27% will be $11B more valuable. A $1B award on top of that $11B gain hardly even qualifies as icing on the cake.
Re:His money where his mouth is. (Score:5, Insightful)
His true pay is the increase in value of his 27% stake in the company. Tesla's market cap today is $59.29B. So, Musk's portion of that is about $16B. If the market cap hits $100B, his 27% will be $11B more valuable. A $1B award on top of that $11B gain hardly even qualifies as icing on the cake.
I wonder how motivational it is at that stage anyway, if he's already got $16B he could eat three star Michelin dinners and ride limos and private jets to five star resorts the rest of his life without making a dent in it. It's a bit like trying to give criminals fourteen consecutive life sentences and pretending it's more than one.
Re:His money where his mouth is. (Score:5, Funny)
Elon wants to retire to a home on Mars. Real estate is cheap there, but moving costs are going to be astronomical.
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Musk is definitely an executive personality. It's hard for ordinary commoners to understand what motivates those kinds of people.
That's precisely why I'm as skeptical about him as I am of any other executive.
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Musk is definitely an executive personality. It's hard for ordinary commoners to understand what motivates those kinds of people.
That's precisely why I'm as skeptical about him as I am of any other executive.
Simple... he can't stop. If I run, foot-pounding at full-rice into a wall, I bounce off. If freight train Elon runs into the wall, it's the wall that moves.
Another analogy based on the D.A.R.E. thing from school: You can pretty much influence the shape of a marshmallow however you see fit. To casually attempt the same with a jawbreaker will fail, but you can crack it in you squeeze hard enough. A razor blade, on the other hand... it's not the blade that bleeds.
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Unlike most of the obscenely rich, I think Musk has plans to spend most of his money. That in my mind sets him apart from the majority of his peers.
The cost of actually establishing a self-sustaining colony on Mars that he could someday go to is not just that of developing the technology and buying his own ticket. You also need thousands of people who are willing and able to work very hard, both mentally and physically. Because our society undervalues physical labor, the majority of the people needed for th
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It's a bit like trying to give criminals fourteen consecutive life sentences and pretending it's more than one.
You raise a good point. I'll field this one.: Multiple consecutive life sentences are handed out to secure the sentence in the face of potential successful appeals. Even if all but one of those appeals is successful, the convict is still stuck in the slammer til they croak.
In Elon's case, I look at it like he's going for the high score record in an arcade game. When you work that hard, shake things up enough to change the world, and contribute that much to humanity, why not go the extra mile, er, kilometer
Mars tax avoidance (Score:4, Funny)
I guess Musk will have to wait to move to Mars until 2028
NO reason headquarters can't be on Mars. Maybe he'll be the first to use the based on Mars tax avoidance loophole!
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You've done your math wrong. (Score:1)
If the article, as you wrote it here, is correct. Musk would get 78 billion if he hits all his milestones. Yes, he would be worth 1 billion after the first milestone, but at the second, he would be worth 3 billion. He would have 2% of the company now worth 150billion, or 3 billion for himself. If he hit all 12 milestones he would have 12% of the 650 billion, 78 billion dollars. This isn't 1 billion + 1.5 billion + 2 billion and so on, it's 1%, then another 1% then another 1% and so on.
Tesla: The world's first... (Score:2)
...fully integrated equity and debt issuing company.
Frankly, I don't see how Musk will ever capitalize on the full award given the never-ending cash-burn, and constantly receding break-even horizon. If the capital markets dry up, Tesla will go out like a perforated lithium battery.
Better than.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Better than some executive pay packages where the company is downsized/destroyed then sold off for scrap while the CEO collects nearly $200 million in bonuses. Marissa Mayer, I'm talking to you.