Companies Tesla, Inc.
Tesla (TSLA): executive pay, fiscal 2025
Free brief. Every figure links to the company’s own filing.
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Includes a multi-year grant valued at $132,298,849,867. The filing says: “2025 CEO Performance Award: 423,743,904 shares of performance-based restricted stock in 12 tranches; "each of the 12 tranches of the 2025 CEO Performance Award will become 'Earned Shares' upon Mr. Musk remaining in Eligible Service ... and the certification by disinterested directors that the following have been achieved: (i) the market capitalization milestone for such tranche and (ii) any one of the four operational milestones focused on strategic product goals ... or eight operational milestones focused on Adjusted EBITDA"; "None of the tranches have become Earned Shares." The related 2025 CEO Interim Award ($26,060,160,000 grant date fair value) "was forfeited in its entirety in April 2026."”. Total without the grant: $26,060,160,000.
CEO pay, last three years
- $0FY2023
- $0FY2024
- $158,359,009,867$26,060,160,000 without the grantFY2025
CEO total pay was $158,359,009,867 in fiscal 2025, up from $0 in fiscal 2024.
FY2025: salary $0 · bonus $0 · stock awards $158,359,009,867 · option awards $0
Executives and directors
Frequently asked questions
Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.
Full detail
Every table from the filing. Open any section.
Summary compensation table
| Named executive officer | Salary | Bonus | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Pension / NQDC | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | $0 | $0 | $158,359,009,867 | $0 | $0 | — | $0 | $158,359,009,867 |
| Technoking of Tesla and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||
| Includes a multi-year grant valued at $132,298,849,867. The filing says: “2025 CEO Performance Award: 423,743,904 shares of performance-based restricted stock in 12 tranches; "each of the 12 tranches of the 2025 CEO Performance Award will become 'Earned Shares' upon Mr. Musk remaining in Eligible Service ... and the certification by disinterested directors that the following have been achieved: (i) the market capitalization milestone for such tranche and (ii) any one of the four operational milestones focused on strategic product goals ... or eight operational milestones focused on Adjusted EBITDA"; "None of the tranches have become Earned Shares." The related 2025 CEO Interim Award ($26,060,160,000 grant date fair value) "was forfeited in its entirety in April 2026."”. Total without the grant: $26,060,160,000. | ||||||||
| Vaibhav Taneja | 400,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 403,000 |
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
| Tom Zhu | 364,338 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11,984 | 376,322 |
| SVP, APAC and Global Vehicle Manufacturing | ||||||||
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.
Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive
| Named executive officer | FY2025 total | FY2024 total | FY2023 total | Δ FY2024→2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | $158,359,009,867 | $0 | $0 | ↑ +158,359,009,867 |
| Vaibhav Taneja | 403,000 | 139,472,935 | 278,000 | ↓ −139,069,935 |
| Tom Zhu | 376,322 | — | — | — |
Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.
Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis
Tesla's compensation program consists primarily of salary or wages and equity awards, with the goal of providing competitive pay and aligning the interests of NEOs with long-term shareholder interests by tying compensation to long-term stock price and the achievement of financial, operational, and strategic objectives.
| CEO STI target (% of salary) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO LTI target (% of salary) | — |
| Independent consultant | Compensia, Inc. |
| Clawback policy | true |
| Anti-hedging | true |
| Anti-pledging | false |
Equity grants and outstanding awards
Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025
| Executive | Award | Grant date | Threshold | Target | Granted | Maximum | Grant-date fair value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | PSU | 2025-11-06 | 423,743,904 | — | — | — | $132,298,849,867 |
| Elon Musk | RSU | 2025-08-15 | — | — | 96,000,000 | — | 26,060,160,000 |
Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type
| Named executive officer | Time-vested (RSU) | Performance-vested (PSU) | Options / SARs | % performance-vested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | $26,060,160,000 | $132,298,849,867 | $0 | 83.5% |
% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.
Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025
| Executive | Award | Shares unvested | Exercise price | Market value unvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaibhav Taneja | RSU | 71,920 | — | $32,343,862 |
| Tom Zhu | Option | 113,020 | 180.14 | — |
| Vaibhav Taneja | Option | 686,501 | 249.85 | — |
| Musk | RSU | 96,000,000 | — | 43,173,120,000 |
| Musk | PSU | 423,743,904 | — | 190,566,108,507 |
Director compensation
| Director | Cash fees | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James MurdochIndependent · Audit · Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee · Disclosure Controls Committee | $0 | $0 | $0 | — | $0 | $0 |
| Kathleen Wilson-ThompsonIndependent · Compensation · Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee · Disclosure Controls Committee | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Ira EhrenpreisIndependent · Compensation (Chair) · Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Joe GebbiaIndependent · Audit | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Robyn DenholmIndependent · Board Chair · Audit (Chair) · Compensation · Chair of the Board · Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee · Disclosure Controls Committee | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Jack HartungIndependent · Audit | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Kimbal MuskNot independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| JB StraubelIndependent | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Elon MuskEmployee director | — | — | — | — | — | 0 |
Board fee structure and ownership guideline
| Annual cash retainer | $0 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | $0 |
| Per board meeting fee | — |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | — |
| Stock ownership guideline | each director is required to own shares of Tesla stock equal in value to at least five times the annual cash retainer for directors |
Total cost of the board
| Component | FY2025 |
|---|---|
| Cash retainers and fees | $0 |
| Equity awards (grant-date value) | $0 |
| All other compensation | $0 |
| Total cost of the board | $0 |
Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.
Peer group, and who names Tesla as a peer
Companies that benchmark against TSLA
9 companies name TSLA as a compensation peer
The list of companies that name TSLA as a peer is temporarily unavailable — recheck shortly.
Chief executive pay against the peer group
Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.
| Rank | Company | FY | Chief executive | Salary | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla, Inc. | 2025 | Elon Musk | $0 | $158,359,009,867 | $0 | $0 | $158,359,009,867 |
Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.
Say-on-pay history and pay ratio
| Meeting year | Meeting date | For | Against | Abstain | Support | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2025-11-06 | 1,931,965,361 | 523,895,380 | 13,543,835 | 78.67% | Passed |
| 2024 | 2024-06-13 | 1,834,794,743 | 449,639,303 | 25,834,844 | 79.42% | Passed |
| 2023 | 2023-05-16 | 1,714,112,661 | 172,116,060 | 6,838,566 | 90.88% | Passed |
| 2020 | 2020-09-22 | 93,570,712 | 17,102,888 | 1,038,471 | 84.55% | Passed |
Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.
Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation
| Meeting year | Meeting date | Approval — company’s computation |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2025-11-06 | 78.67%a |
| 2024 | 2024-06-13 | 79.42%b |
| 2023 | 2023-05-16 | 90.88%c |
a. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “ 62 2024 Proxy Statement TABLE OF CONTENTS With respect to approval of the Texas Redomestication and the adoption of the Texas Redomestication Resolution, you may vote "FOR", "AGAINST" or "ABSTAIN." Abstentions will only be counted toward the tabulations of voting power present and entitled to vote on the Texas Redomestication proposal for the Conversion Disinterested Standard and will have the same effect as votes against the proposal for both the Conversion Standard and the Conversion Disinterested Standard.”.
c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions will have no effect on Proposal Three.”.
Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.
CEO pay ratio
| Ratio (CEO : median employee) | 2,522,203 : 1 |
|---|---|
| CEO total compensation | $158,359,009,867 |
| Median employee compensation | $62,786 |
Insider trades since the proxy
No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.
Sources (22 citations)
Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.
- Section 01, Elon Musk. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 19. As printed: 158,359,009,867. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Vaibhav Taneja. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 403,000. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Tom Zhu. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 376,322. View filing ↗
- Section 03, Elon Musk PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards in 2025” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
- Section 03, Elon Musk RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards in 2025” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
- Section 07, pay ratio. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 2522203 : 1. View filing ↗
- Section 08, James Murdoch. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Ira Ehrenpreis. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Joe Gebbia. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Robyn Denholm. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Jack Hartung. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Kimbal Musk. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, JB Straubel. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Elon Musk. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-19. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2025 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2025-11-07. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 78.67% (votes for as printed: 1,931,965,361). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2024 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2024-06-14. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 79.42% (votes for as printed: 1,834,794,743). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2023 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2023-05-22. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 90.88% (votes for as printed: 1,714,112,661). View filing ↗
- Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
- Section 03b vehicle mix (computed). Computed. RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).
- Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 0 + equity 0 + all other 0 = 0, summed across the director compensation table rows.
- Tesla, Inc. (subject), Section 10b CEO total. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-30. CEO total compensation as printed in Tesla, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 158,359,009,867. View filing ↗