Tesla Board Earns Over $3 Billion in Stock Awards, Outpacing Tech Rivals

Tesla Director Stock Awards Exceed Rivals

• 💡 An analysis by Equilar for Reuters reveals that Tesla's board members have earned over $3 billion through stock awards.
• 🎯 These payouts significantly exceeded those at rival US tech giants at the time they were granted.

Key Director Earnings

• 💰 Kimble Musk, CEO Elon Musk's brother, has earned nearly $1 billion since 2004 from stock options.
• 📈 Director Ira Ehrenpreis has collected $869 million since 2007.
• 📊 Board chair Robin Denholm has made $650 million since 2014.

Compensation Context and Shareholder Lawsuit

• ⚠️ Directors reaped these windfalls despite not awarding themselves new stock grants in the last 5 years.
• ⚖️ The board agreed to suspend director compensation starting in 2021 to settle a shareholder lawsuit alleging excessive board member pay.
• 💸 Between 2018 and 2020, the average Tesla director received approximately $12 million in cash and stock compensation.

Comparison with 'Magnificent Seven' Companies

• 🚀 This average compensation was about eight times that of the average director at Alphabet, the next highest paid among the 'magnificent seven' companies during the same period.
• 📈 The value of these original awards skyrocketed along with Tesla's share price in subsequent years.
• 🧩 The analysis highlights that Tesla is unique among this group where the size of directors' original stock awards played such an outsized role in their substantial earnings.