That compensation package comes with very steep performance requirements.
There are twelve separate performance milestones, including Tesla's market capitalization growing to $8.5 trillion and delivering 20 million vehicles. He must also meet product-specific goals, such as 10 million active "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) subscriptions, 1 million "Optimus" robots delivered, and 1 million robotaxis in operation. These goals are separated into "tranches" that must be achieved over the next decade.
On the one hand, maybe it’s just how crazy our economy feels lately but I don’t conceptually have a problem with, if you sell a 100 million cars for 50k each, and keep 10k for yourself, you should get a trillion dollars. Innovation and providing a product people want should be rewarded. On the other hand, I do have a problem with:
* market manipulation to get that valuation.
* using that money to manipulate the government/rules to preference yourself
Tesla? Nothing that I know of. Not even getting the President to promote Tesla cars while Musk was working in DOGE, though that was dodgy for other reasons.
So I'll admit up front I don't know a lot about investing, but I at least understand a decent amount about business fundamentals. What I can't understand is why Tesla's stock hasn't tanked yet. They're losing business across every sector they sell in, they're trying to hard pivot to robotics technology and they have the most vocal egocentric CEO constantly trying to extract personal value from the company. If I owned TSLA stock one of these alone would spook me, but TSLA is still trading at all-time highs. None of it makes logical sense to me, genuinely is there something I'm missing here? Has TSLA just become a meme like Gamestop to the point where the business itself doesn't matter at all?
Tesla isn't tanking for the same reason Amazon didn't tank when they built AWS. They used a low margin business to nurture one of the greatest businesses in history. Tesla aims to do the same thing with robotaxi, energy, and eventually humanoid robots. You might not think they will succeed but enough people do that the stock price reflects about a 10-20% chance of success.
Just the robotaxi business alone could be worth hundreds of billions a year in avoided insurance costs and save the average Western family about $5k in transportation costs annually. If it works. Most people don't think it will, but most people thought Amazon wouldn't work either.
There's an alternative explanation to TSLA being a meme stock: investing in Tesla is investing in the financial wellbeing of one of the most influential people on the planet. The way the world is going, it's not unreasonable for TSLA shareholders to believe they may get extrinsic rewards from propping up Musk beyond financial gains.
That compensation package comes with very steep performance requirements.
There are twelve separate performance milestones, including Tesla's market capitalization growing to $8.5 trillion and delivering 20 million vehicles. He must also meet product-specific goals, such as 10 million active "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) subscriptions, 1 million "Optimus" robots delivered, and 1 million robotaxis in operation. These goals are separated into "tranches" that must be achieved over the next decade.
On the one hand, maybe it’s just how crazy our economy feels lately but I don’t conceptually have a problem with, if you sell a 100 million cars for 50k each, and keep 10k for yourself, you should get a trillion dollars. Innovation and providing a product people want should be rewarded. On the other hand, I do have a problem with:
* market manipulation to get that valuation.
* using that money to manipulate the government/rules to preference yourself
* anti-competitive behavior.
* valuations based on hype and vaporware. Etc.
What anti-competitive behavior has Tesla committed?
Tesla? Nothing that I know of. Not even getting the President to promote Tesla cars while Musk was working in DOGE, though that was dodgy for other reasons.
Musk? Looks to me like buying government influence, using it to halt investigations against his own companies: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/doge-could-help-...
That, plus how all of the Musk group gets smooshed together in weird ways, and how TSLA is treated as a public investment vehicle for all the other stuff: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-shareholders-vote-elon...
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> 20+% margin on cars
wouldn't that be nice.
How many Teslas did SpaceX buy already?
So I'll admit up front I don't know a lot about investing, but I at least understand a decent amount about business fundamentals. What I can't understand is why Tesla's stock hasn't tanked yet. They're losing business across every sector they sell in, they're trying to hard pivot to robotics technology and they have the most vocal egocentric CEO constantly trying to extract personal value from the company. If I owned TSLA stock one of these alone would spook me, but TSLA is still trading at all-time highs. None of it makes logical sense to me, genuinely is there something I'm missing here? Has TSLA just become a meme like Gamestop to the point where the business itself doesn't matter at all?
> Has TSLA just become a meme like Gamestop to the point where the business itself doesn't matter at all?
yes. has been for a while.
Tesla isn't tanking for the same reason Amazon didn't tank when they built AWS. They used a low margin business to nurture one of the greatest businesses in history. Tesla aims to do the same thing with robotaxi, energy, and eventually humanoid robots. You might not think they will succeed but enough people do that the stock price reflects about a 10-20% chance of success.
Just the robotaxi business alone could be worth hundreds of billions a year in avoided insurance costs and save the average Western family about $5k in transportation costs annually. If it works. Most people don't think it will, but most people thought Amazon wouldn't work either.
> What I can't understand is why Tesla's stock hasn't tanked yet.
Elon Musk.
> None of it makes logical sense to me, genuinely is there something I'm missing here?
Fundamentals don't work on meme stocks unfortunately, they work on cult leaders and will react when their CEO does or says something erratic.
There's an alternative explanation to TSLA being a meme stock: investing in Tesla is investing in the financial wellbeing of one of the most influential people on the planet. The way the world is going, it's not unreasonable for TSLA shareholders to believe they may get extrinsic rewards from propping up Musk beyond financial gains.
Someone mentioned that specifically Musk might be behind the scenes tying access to a spaceX IPO to something like investment in Tesla.
Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/elon-musk-tesla-pay-packa...
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