Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn (£761bn) pay package – if Tesla meets a series of extremely ambitious targets over the next 10 years.

The world’s richest man has the potential to become a trillionaire after the controversial plans were approved by shareholders.

However, it won’t be easy. As part of the agreement, Musk will need to deliver 20 million Tesla vehicles over the next decade – more than double the number churned out over the past 12 years.

He will be tasked with dramatically increasing the company’s valuation and operating profits.

Another requirement is for Tesla to roll out one million AI-powered robots – despite the fact it hasn’t released a single one so far.

Musk will also need to come up with a succession plan on who will replace him as the chief executive of Tesla.

As each step is successfully completed, he will receive more company shares and his ownership stake will rise – potentially from 13% now to almost 29%.

And even if Musk falls short of some of these targets, he could end up earning a lot of money.

Figures from Forbes magazine suggest the 54-year-old already has a net worth of $493bn (£375bn) – and while that means he has more money than anyone else on the planet, he isn’t the richest person in history… yet.

That title belongs to John D. Rockefeller, the railroad titan who had wealth of $630bn (£480bn) back in 1913 – when adjusted for inflation.

Why?

Now is the moment Tesla wants to innovate, develop into robotics, self-driving and embrace the growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

It’s seeking a visionary leader to spearhead this move. And a lot of Tesla’s market value is tied up in this ambition.

Tesla’s board of directors, who oversee the management of the business, are adamant that only Musk can make the lofty ambitions a reality.

Some believe there’s no one else like Musk.

More shares in the company are “critical to keep Musk at the helm to lead Tesla through the most critical time in the company’s history”, said financial services firm Wedbush.

“We believe this was the smart move by the board to lay out these incentives/pay package at this key time as the biggest asset for Tesla is Musk … and with the AI revolution, this is a crucial time for Tesla ahead with autonomous and robotics front and centre.”

“Getting Musk’s pay package approved will be a big step towards advancing Tesla’s future goals,” Wedbush analysts wrote.

Opposition

Not everyone is in favour of the pay package.

Major investor advice firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) warned the 10-year pay agreement reduces the board’s ability “to meaningfully adjust future pay levels in the event of unforeseen events or changes in either the performance or strategic focus of the company over the next decade”.

In a note, ISS said: “The high value of each tranche could also potentially undermine Musk’s desire to achieve all goals and create significant value for shareholders”, and that the goals “lack precision”.

Mr Musk has described ISS and another major adviser, Glass Lewis, as “corporate terrorists”.

There was speculation he would walk away from the business if the package was not agreed on.

Sir Keir Starmer has said David Lammy “set out the facts” on mistaken prisoner releases “to the best of his knowledge” amid questions over what the justice secretary knew and when.

Speaking for the first time since it emerged two prisoners were wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth, the prime minister also said the situation was “intolerable” and that he was “angry and frustrated”.

The Met Police announced on Wednesday afternoon that registered sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian national, had been released in error on 29 October. He is still at large.

A few hours later it was revealed another prisoner, 35-year-old William “Billy” Smith, had been wrongly released on Monday – the same day he was convicted for multiple fraud offences and handed a 45-month jail term. He has since handed himself in.

Asked how the public can have confidence in the justice system, Sir Keir said: “Let me just say how angry and frustrated I am that these mistakes have been made in releasing people. They’re intolerable, and they shouldn’t be made.

“A lot of it comes from the burden and the strain on the system because of the failures of the last government. But I recognise it’s our job to step up and to fix this.”

Sir Keir went on to defend Mr Lammy’s handing of the saga, which comes a week on from the mistaken release of Ethiopian sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who has since been deported.

Mr Lammy declared on 27 October that stronger prison checks in light of the Kebatu fiasco would come into force immediately.

But on Thursday, he said those checks were not in place when Kaddour-Cherif was released two days later.

Asked whether he was being truthful last week or on Thursday, Sir Keir said: “David Lammy can speak for himself on that.

“I’m absolutely clear that he’s setting out the facts, to the best of his knowledge and that’s the right thing for him to do.

“But whatever the checks, it’s intolerable. So, we have to make sure that whatever changes are needed are made.”

Government sources have said the mistakes that triggered the release of Kaddour-Cherif happened at the end of September, before the new regime was put in place.

Meanwhile on Thursday night, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced the rollout of “cutting-edge technology to more prisons” in order to reduce human error and modernise “the archaic processes that have led to mistakes”.

“These measures will build on the tough new checks that were brought in last month, and ensure governor oversight of all releases,” the MoJ said.

Mr Lammy, who is also the deputy prime minister, is facing further criticism for failing to reveal that he knew of Kaddour-Cherif’s release during PMQs on Wednesday, when he was filing in for Sir Keir who is at the COP summit in Brazil.

He was asked repeatedly by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu and refused to answer the question. The news broke at the end of PMQs.

On Thursday, Mr Lammy said he did not have all the details in the morning and did not want to mislead the public.

He told broadcasters: “I took the judgment that it is important when updating the House and the country about serious matters like this, that you have all of the details.

“I was not equipped with all of the detail, and the danger is that you end up misleading the House and the general public.

“So that is the judgment I took. I think it’s the right judgment.”

But shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: “David Lammy has either lied or has absolutely no clue what’s going on in his department.

“How can the public have confidence in the justice secretary when he can’t establish a timeline of events or answer basic questions?”

Kaddour-Cherif was serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously been convicted for indecent exposure.

It is understood he is not an asylum seeker but is in the process of being deported after he overstayed his visa.

Tesla will continue to extend its “one-time” FSD transfer scheme for at least another quarter, according to CEO Elon Musk at today’s Tesla shareholder meeting.

Tesla’s shareholder meeting is underway, and the big headline is that shareholders have enthusiastically voted against their own interests, diluting their own voting rights and handing more control of the company to the one person on Earth currently negatively affecting its business the most, CEO Elon Musk.

At the end of the meeting, Tesla hosted a Q&A session with shareholders in attendance, and one of them asked a question we’ve heard before: whether Tesla owners who purchased Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software, which still has not been delivered despite the first purchases happening almost a decade ago at this point, would be able to transfer the licenses to that undelivered software if they choose to buy a new Tesla vehicle.

So far, Tesla’s official policy has been that owners must purchase FSD with each new vehicle they buy, and can’t transfer the licenses between them. However, it did offer a “one-time” exception to that rule for a two month period in 2023. After that, Tesla owners would never be allowed to transfer their FSD license again.

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Well, except for the next time that Tesla allowed it. Then the next time. Then Tesla saying no, it won’t come back. Then it came back.

And now, it’s still active, having started in April.

So, the question was perhaps a little out of date. The program hasn’t just been active for a single quarter this time, but for the last half-year. There is no listed end date on Tesla’s website.

Nevertheless, Musk answered the question thusly:

We have done that a few times. I guess we could extend it again. Alright, we’ll extend it for at least another quarter, and then play it by ear after that.

This in fact seems like a limitation as compared to the current status of the program, since it is active with no end date at the moment. Musk mentioning that it might only last for another quarter suggests it may end earlier than Tesla’s website language currently suggests.

However, it’s been apparent all along that this is more of a way to stoke demand, hoping to get current owners to purchase FSD on new cars, so Tesla can hold on to the up to $15,000 it charged those owners for undelivered software.

Musk has continually stated, for more than a decade, that FSD is right around the corner. Consumers were led to believe that their FSD systems would be active soon, with Musk often stating it would be released by “next year.” Musk said that owners would be able to make money by running a robotaxi service, and that their cars would be “appreciating assets” because of it – and now Tesla is making revenue like that, but you can’t.

The years have come and went, and many cars are either out of service, getting old and reaching time for replacement, or owners have been scared away by Musk’s disgusting and high-profile political actions which have included sympathizing with Nazis.

Those owners who have moved on will seemingly never get back their investment into the false promises that Musk advanced, but it only makes sense that owners who do want to retain their license and move it to a new vehicle should be able to do so. Tesla sold software, the software still isn’t working, and people should be able to enjoy that software for a reasonable amount of time if they bought it.

And yet, Tesla continues jerking its most loyal owners around, those who have held strong through the incredible brand damage Musk is doing, and suggesting that the right thing to do is only available as a limited opportunity – trying to nickel and dime the most loyal owners into buying new cars earlier than they would have planned, with the specter of having to re-purchase FSD if they didn’t do so.

That said, there are several current cases in court covering the issue of Tesla’s false advertising regarding FSD. So this issue might be solved for the company by outside forces eventually anyway. But it would have been better if Tesla just did the right thing to begin with – which it continually resists doing.

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