Tesla awards Musk ‘good faith’ retention payment

Denholm and Wilson-Thompson said it is imperative that Tesla retains and motivates its “extraordinary talent, beginning with Elon.”

“The war for AI talent is intensifying, with recent months including multi-billion-dollar acquisitions of companies and nine-figure cash compensation packages for non-founder, individual AI engineers,” they said.

“Even among this group of highly talented individuals, no one matches Elon’s remarkable combination of leadership experience, technical expertise, and, arguably most importantly, decades-long proven track record of building the most revolutionary and profitable businesses across different industries.”

Musk also holds leadership roles at xAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, X Corp., and The Boring Company. His involvement in other organisations, as well as politics in the previous year, has prompted some Tesla shareholders to ask him to commit at least 40 hours a week to the automotive firm to address its challenges.

“While we recognise that Elon’s business ventures, interests and other potential demands on his time and attention are extensive and wide-ranging… we are confident that this award will incentivise Elon to remain at Tesla and focus his unmatched leadership abilities on further creating shareholder value for Tesla shareholders and attracting and retaining talent at Tesla,” the board members said in the letter.