With Tesla shareholders set to vote on a proposed 10-year, $1 trillion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk in November, board chair Robyn Denholm spoke to The New York Times to defend what would be the largest pay package in corporate history.
Denholm, who was also on the special committee that put the compensation proposal together, argued that Musk needs to be motivated by extraordinary challenges tied to extraordinary compensation. At the same time, she suggested he’s less interested in the additional wealth that the promised Tesla shares would represent, and more in the voting power.
“I think it’s a little bit weird talking about the dollars when it’s actually the voting influence,” said Denholm, whom The Times described as “occasionally appearing ill at ease” during the interview.
It might also seem counterintuitive to offer such a massive pay package when Tesla’s profits and vehicle sales are falling, but Denholm insisted that the plan is about “future performance.”
“It’s not about past performance,” she said. “He gets nothing if he doesn’t perform against the goals.”
As TechCrunch previously noted, the package’s goals are considerably less ambitious than some of the promises Musk has made about Tesla in the past.