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Elon Musk To Stay At Tesla For Another Decade (arstechnica.com)

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...

92 comments

  1. What is really interesting is the market cap by luvirini · · Score: 1

    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.

    1. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by TFlan91 · · Score: 4, 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

    2. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Similar investors are confident in their Bitcoin investments.

    3. Re: What is really interesting is the market cap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lul. Can't even use proper grammar. U go get dem bitcoins brova. U da man.

    4. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by Dorianny · · Score: 1

      Ahh yes, they have autopilot technology when everyone else only has assisted driving, not to mention rocked powered Tesla's that can fly to Mars. Nope no, shenanigans there, no sir, just amazing technology

    5. Re: What is really interesting is the market cap by pezpunk · · Score: 0

      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.

      --
      i could live a little longer in this prison
    6. Re: What is really interesting is the market cap by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      Nobody cares. People made a lot of money who got in early on Beanie Babies, too.

    7. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol. Do you understand Bitcoin? If you think you do, you're lying to yourself.

      I've also made money off bitcoin, because I believe in the stupidity of others.

      And if Bitcoin dropped to 0, I wouldn't shed a tear for myself as I've expected that from the start, and I've already made my money.

    8. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Unlike Buttcoin, cost-efficient large-scale battery manufacturing is actually useful for our society.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      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 might be autonomous? while vw and bmw are actually further in the research for those???

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    10. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by steveha · · Score: 1

      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. You use your gasoline car.

      All the electric cars, except Tesla. Tesla's Supercharger network is something that they have paid huge money to put together, and it means that you really can have just a Tesla as your only car. Long road trips? Just stop at a Supercharger and eat a snack or something while your car charges.

      Only Tesla has the Supercharger network and cars that can use it. With any other brand of car, charging will take at least twice as long.

      Assuming that Tesla can get their production line running smoothly for the Model 3, they can sell a lot of cars each year. And they are going to make money on each of those cars.

      Right now, Tesla is losing lots of money, but it's not being wasted. They invested in R&D to develop the new Model 3, the new Semi, and the new sports car. They invested in equipment to make the Model 3. They invested in their own battery factory so they can get the lowest cost on batteries.

      So the best possible scenario for Tesla: they get the Model 3 production line flowing and sell nearly half a million cars in 2018, and by 2019 or 2020 they are all caught up on back orders and selling over half a million Model 3s each year. They make a lot of money per car due to low cost on the batteries. All those cars use the Tesla Supercharger network, and lots of friends and family of Tesla owners get rides in the new cars and decide they want Teslas also, leading to more orders for Model 3s. Then they start selling lots of Semis, they finish the Model Y and sell lots of those, and they wind up owning a large chunk of the battery electric vehicle market. People start buying Teslas because they are confident in the charging network, and Tesla can afford to build out the charging network even more because they are now finally making money, and it snowballs. Then one or more factories in Europe come on line, making batteries and cars, and Tesla starts selling over a million cars per year. And the factory in Shanghai comes on line and they sell even more. Where does it end? Could Tesla grow to be the size of Honda?

      Note that nothing in that scenario assumes new tech we haven't seen, or really even old tech we haven't seen utilized in a new way. It just assumes that Tesla wins big by being the first company to get volumes up and costs down enough to really sell a battery electric vehicle at a price people can afford. Plus Tesla wins in the Semi space by being the first company with a viable product.

      Tesla also has a fairly wild plan, where they finish the full (level 5) self-driving features; they get legal approval for the cars to drive around on their own; and Tesla owners can opt-in to have their cars driving in an Uber-like carsharing service called Tesla Network. Imagine people have their cars drive them to work. Then, while they are at work, their cars join themselves to the service, and drive around picking people up and dropping them off; the people get paid for the trips their cars make, and then when it's time for them to go home for the day their cars automatically release themselves from the service and go to pick them up and drive them home. Thus a l

      --
      lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    11. Re: What is really interesting is the market cap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything? Let me think. Mad production of desirable electric cars, solar cells, batteries. Mad production is an innovation, btw. It's a huge innovation that no one else was able to do.

    12. Re:What is really interesting is the market cap by tsa · · Score: 1

      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.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    13. Re: What is really interesting is the market cap by kaybee · · Score: 1

      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.

  2. I have no issues with it by oldgraybeard · · Score: 2

    In order to be a true dreamer, leader and entrepreneur. To build something no one else could even envision, all the in the know people will think your nuts ;) While I don't see a future in some things he proposes others definitely have merit ;)

    The board made the call, good for him ;)

    Just my 2 cents ;)

    1. Re:I have no issues with it by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      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?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:I have no issues with it by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      so I didn’t think PayPal would ever amount to anything

      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 credit card payment processor. Again, it's not that this doesn't make any money, but it isn't exactly something special either. I admit, I only see my use case, but I only use PayPal if no other payment methods are practical, and usually that means having to pay a fee to the seller in order to use PayPal (typically 1€ to 1.5€), so the costs are offset to you. A typical example would be online computer part stores in Germany, that don't accept non-German credit cards.

      What PayPal is relatively good at, is to transfer money from one private person to another private person online. That said, if my correspondent is in Europe, I'll just do a wire transfer. Perhaps my view is too Eurocentric and the true advantages of PayPal play out in the US?

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    3. Re: I have no issues with it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elon needs to die. Hopefully, live on TV dropped in a pool of boiling acid.

  3. Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    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.

    1. Re:Revenue OR profit? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Since he's such a valuable asset, as a precaution he's not allowed to drive with Autopilot.

    2. Re:Revenue OR profit? by oldgraybeard · · Score: 1

      Funny ;) If I could I would have modded you up ;)

    3. Re: Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not until it can detect parked firetrucks with flashing lights at least.

    4. Re:Revenue OR profit? by quantaman · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    5. Re:Revenue OR profit? by stabiesoft · · Score: 1

      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.

    6. Re: Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's based in market cap, which is the stock price times number of shares.

    7. Re:Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Generating revenue without profit is also easy to game.
      That would be why any sane incentive system is based on both revenue and profit, not simply meeting one or the other.

    8. Re:Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ;) ;) smiley check ;)

    9. Re:Revenue OR profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      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?

      You might want to look into the meaning of this pesky word "and" that's giving you so much trouble.

      This one: "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 they're losing $30B you won't see that $100B market cap.

    10. Re:Revenue OR profit? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      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...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  4. What exactly is the work that he does there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Managing" does not suffice. Teams actually work better without managers. Especially with good team software.
    "Deciding" also isn't more than "picking" what your experts told you.
    And in any case, what exactly is that work, that is so extremely skilled, that you get roughly $48,000 AN HOUR for it?

    Cause to me, this looks like the most overrated type of job in human history.
    Do ... well ... practically nothing, except in order to make sure you don't have to do anything in the future, by getting others to do it ... Act very busy, like you're the hardest working one because you're on top of a thousand actual hard workers Rake in literal truck loads of money.

    Only banking is better, because you get to make up at least 92% of "your money" too.

    1. Re:What exactly is the work that he does there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah well when you start the company you can decide what your job is

    2. Re: What exactly is the work that he does there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah these left arguments are hilarious. In their worldview, you just âoestart a companyâ and wooop CEO earns billions. Why donâ(TM)t they start a company of their own? Omg oppression, racist, white privileges. Skill and drive is literary something that doesnâ(TM)t exist (never mind thatâ(TM)s how the world has progressed since the beginning of human time)

  5. "government" ... corporate ... same thing. by Anonymous Coward · · 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 not saying that corporations, like any organization, can't represent their interests. I'm saying that that they have taken away our right to represent our interests. (Aaand cue me promptly getting downmodded into oblivion, for siding with those that do said modding.)

    But yeah, if you want to, you can call a corporate (or whatever) oligarchy a "government" ... and call a dictatorship a "government" too. And I would disagree, on the grounds, that joint-venture of human stockman is a much more appropriate term.

    1. Re:"government" ... corporate ... same thing. by smallfries · · Score: 2

      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...

      --
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    2. Re:"government" ... corporate ... same thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All they need now is some mind of incompetant populist to act as ringmaster...

      Uh, that would be the pointless position of President of the United States. The populist who buys their way into that self-serving position is irrelevant. People run for office for the millions earned after grandstanding as Chief Sock Puppet, not because they think they can effect change or benefit the masses.

  6. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Love these comments. GOVERNMENT!!! If it's so easy why don't you go get those subsidies?

  7. Re:Of course by pezpunk · · Score: 4, Informative

    actually he lobbies against government subsidies ... unlike the oil industry, which receives 8 billion a year in government subsidies. (fucking conservative hypocrites)

    --
    i could live a little longer in this prison
  8. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's not ignore that Musk's companies have taken just under 5 billion in federal subsidies.

  9. seems doable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    10 years, 45 billion and head of a spaceship company? That's seriously doable. If anyone has ever been in a position to fly themselves to mars he sure is.

  10. At what point does the money not matter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Certainly Elon Musk is already rich enough that any potential compensation really doesn't matter. So why offer such ridiculous sums?

    1. Re:At what point does the money not matter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because they are ridiculous goals. If he ever gets a penny given these goals, he's a miracle worker. He has a better chance of retiring on Mars.

  11. Re:Of course by hambone142 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Interesting pay for a company that isn't making any money (and actually losing it).

    It'll die if the subsidies stop.

  12. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stock market and public ownership of corporations should be outlawed

  13. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    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.

  14. Some of us aren't corporate thieves like Musk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And hence make our living without pillaging the American taxpayer.

  15. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, he should look at the true cost of oil. For oil, the open subsidies are pocket change. It's the trillion dollar wars that are the true cost.

  16. Re:Of course by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    That's a very generous definition of "just". A meaningless one, in fact.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  17. Bandwidth limited.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I guess Musk will have to wait to move to Mars until 2028..."

    What, he can't telecommute?

    1. Re: Bandwidth limited.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Latency limited. 20 minute round trips make it harder to micromanage a company.

  18. where is it today by Anonymous Coward · · 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?

    1. Re:where is it today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elsewhere it was reported that he currently gets a check for a minimum wage salary once a year (due to CA not permitting him to work for free) but that he doesn't cash it.

  19. How many shares of Elon does Tesla own? by AlanObject · · Score: 1

    I wonder what moonlighting clause the compensation package has. Musk is "moolighting" with SpaceX and The Boring Company already and probably others I don't keep track of. So what does Tesla get? 30%?

  20. His money where his mouth is. by Pezbian · · Score: 1

    It's not often you see an executive who doesn't have a Golden Parachute.

    This is cool. I wonder what he has planned?

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
    1. Re:His money where his mouth is. by RhettLivingston · · 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.

    2. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A 10% bonus is significant, on anyone's cake.

    3. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Kjella · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    5. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      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.

    6. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It might not even be icing on the cake, but it's extra resources to put into play.

    7. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Pezbian · · Score: 1

      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, and leave the kind of legacy kids in school will be taught about millennia after you're gone?

      --
      In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
    8. Re:His money where his mouth is. by Pezbian · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
    9. Re:His money where his mouth is. by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      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 the colony to be functional are very unlikely to be able to afford their own tickets.

      Musk will need to pay for a fleet of transport ships, all materials and supplies to be taken from Earth for construction and survival, his ticket, and the tickets of another 10,000 people or so who can't afford the trip on their own to make his dream reality. He'll need many times more funding to fund his dream.

  21. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not to mention climate change and the various health problems that are caused or exasperated by the emissions.

  22. Re:Of course by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

    So he's going to stop cashing the checks?

  23. Re:Of course by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, he's not. It's a perfectly consistent position to believe that government subsidies for established fossil fuel companies are hurting the society and the environment, therefore lobby against them, but simultaneously use the subsidies available *to you* to build up a competitor that would obsolete said fossil fuel companies. Either one of those or both could do the trick, it's just hedging your bets.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  24. Sounds good, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only problem is that Tesla is not going to survive another ten years. They're haemorrhaging money and there is no realistic path towards profitability anytime soon.

    1. Re: Sounds good, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm hoping no more than 5. Fuck Elon. Fuck Tesla owners. They can all go collectively fuck each other.

  25. Running across a river filled with crocodiles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, that's the situation Tesla is in. They need someone with the vision to keep moving because if they stop - dead.

    That's not an insult to Elon, but you only have to look at any number of large companies that have lost the plot and faltered to get some idea of why they want to keep him.

  26. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well done, you spotted the satirical feature in that post! Can you find it in this one?

  27. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    4.9b is just under 5b http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html. Note article is from 2015 so pretty sure it has passes 5b by now,

  28. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    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.

  29. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So basically, if Tesla reach 650 billion market cap he will receive 12% of the whole company "for free"
    This makes a lot of money if he never sells them...

  30. Re:Of course by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    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.

  31. Right incentive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    10 years is a long ways off. It's hard to say what Tesla will look like then.
    Will it be a car or energy company, or something else?
    How to you measure progress when you are not sure of it's direction?
    This highlights that even for Tesla, counting money is how the game is scored.
    Typical boardroom stuff, but one would have hoped for better.

    The problem with using the stock price as a metric puts focus on the often illogical stock market and dilutes focus from the company's ability to make useful things and their market acceptance. It tends to nudge the company to doing illogical things. They did logically combine this metric with (revenue or profit) which helps. They did not put in a balance sheet metric.

    You get what you measure, so what are other alternatives for a metric?

  32. Mars tax avoidance by rwise2112 · · Score: 3, 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!

    --

    "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
    1. Re:Mars tax avoidance by snookiex · · Score: 1

      This won't work if Tesla is using Skype for Business. I'm totally unable to picture a conf call with software that barely works on Earth.

      --
      Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
  33. You've done your math wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  34. Tesla: The world's first... by SigIO · · 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.

  35. Re: Of course by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Really? Show us where he got 5 billion in federal subsidies. And doing work for the feds does not count.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  36. Re: Of course by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    That article called doing work for the feds or breaks going to others to be subsidies. So no, it is total BS. So show us real $5b in federal subsidies.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  37. Re: Of course by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Considering that Tesla gets no real subsidies, they will do fine.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  38. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL Trump just gave their solar panels a 30% subsidy you idiot.

  39. Better than.. by h8sg8s · · Score: 3, 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.

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    Organization? You must be joking..
  40. Market cap vs Profit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why isn't his pay tied to Tesla profit (p.s. they don't have any) instead of market cap which is based on fluff and marketing?

    Tesla has had few profitable quarters in its entire history. In 2017. It had billions in losses every year since 2014. 2016 and 2017 were the two worst years ever. Pay tied to market cap is a scam and shareholders should be outraged.

    FYI, Enron had a market cap of about $60 billion right before they went bankrupt.

  41. Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now if he will only keep his lunatic ideas to himself for the next ten as well.

  42. Re: Of course by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    And yet, you can not Post a single honest link to show where trump gave Tesla a 30% subsidy. Idiot.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  43. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, the wifi to the rock you are living under must be pretty bad if you hadn't heard about this

  44. Re: Of course by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    and yet, it is NOT a subsidy to Tesla.
    China is simply going to subsidize until the $/watt is less than .40 and then dump more on America. Basically, this is not a subsidy, but an economic war, in which Tesla is going to have a struggle.
    You need to get out of your hole.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  45. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gotcha, China bad US good, we understand now. Go Trump ! #1 Go Trump #1!

    You can't compete in future industries, best you can do is double down and subsidise your fossil fuels even more.

  46. Re: Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Funny guy, Trump makes every foreign panel 30% more expensive, but it's not a subsidy.
    On the other hand you imagine in the future China will respond, and somehow that is a subsidy. Even though it's just your imagination running wild.

    How about you join the rest of us in the real world and lay off whatever drugs you must be taking.