Shareholders give Elon Musk giant pay package as Tesla sales plummet

NEW YORK (AP) — The richest man in the world just got the chance to become the first billionaire in history.

Elon Musk won a shareholder vote Thursday that would give the Tesla CEO $1 trillion worth of stock if he hits certain performance goals over the next decade. The vote came after weeks of debate over his management record at the electric car maker and whether anyone deserved a record salary, drawing heated comments from small investors to giant pension funds and even the Pope.

The vote is a resounding victory for Musk, showing that investors still have faith in him as Tesla battles declining sales, market share and profits, largely due to Musk himself. Car buyers fled the company this year as he ventured into politics in both the United States and Europe and trafficked in conspiracy theories.

PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images

The vote came just three days after a report out of Europe showing that Tesla car sales fell again last month, including a 50% collapse in Germany.

Still, many Tesla investors regard Musk as something of a miracle man capable of astonishing business feats, such as when he brought Tesla back from the brink of bankruptcy a half-dozen years ago to turn it into one of the most valuable companies in the world.

The vote paves the way for Musk to become a billionaire by giving him new shares, but it won’t be easy. The board of directors that designed the pay package requires him to achieve several ambitious financial and operational goals, including increasing the company’s stock market value to almost six times its current level.