You Probably Don't Understand The Scale Of Elon's $56B Payday

Elon Musk is once again the world’s richest man, as the value of his Tesla shares continues to bounce back from a massive drop earlier this year. According to Forbes, the Tesla CEO’s net worth is about 224.2 billion U.S. dollars. Much of his wealth was slashed earlier this year when a judge blocked his 2018 package of stock options, though shareholders have once again voted to ratify the options, worth $56 billion. Car company CEOs are well-paid, but their pay packages are usually in the millions. It’s hard to put into context just how big this pay package is for Musk, but we’re going to try.

Tesla’s Big Discounts Worked, Sort Of

The current entry-level Tesla, a rear-wheel drive Model 3, can be purchased with cash for $38,990 plus a $1,390 destination fee and a $250 order fee. We know that Tesla doesn’t offer any employee discounts, so Elon would be on the hook for the full amount. Now, Musk lives in Texas, so he’ll pay approximately 6.25 percent on top of that for taxes, title, and license fees, which adds up to another $2,436.88. That brings the out-the-door price to $43,066.88.

Elon has long claimed that buying a Tesla is an appreciating asset because it’ll eventually be able to earn you money while you’re at work. So he’d be a fool to not spend his entire $56B package on brand new Model 3s that will appreciate down the line when Full Self Driving allows you to rent them out as robotaxis. So just how many Model 3s can Elon buy with this pay package?

One million, three hundred thousand, three-hundred three Model 3s. With the pay package that the Tesla shareholders recently re-ratified for Elon Musk, justified as payment for the hard work he’s put in since 2018, he could purchase a new Model 3 every single day for the next 3,562 years.

What else could Elon Musk buy with his $56B stock options package?

Ford’s market cap is $49B, so he could execute a hostile takeover of Ford.

If he were feeling particularly generous, Elon could buy four Costco hotdog and drink combos for every human on Earth.

This compensation package, which is admittedly for six years of hard work on Elon’s part, is significantly larger than any other automotive CEO in the industry, but it’s still hard to fathom just how much larger it is. If Elon were to hire General Motors CEO Mary Barra to be his personal assistant, he could use this $56B package to match what GM pays her, $27.8M, and have her on retainer until the year 4038.

Auction site Bring A Trailer sold just over 30,000 cars last year for a total of just about $1.4B. Elon’s pay package would see him the high bidder on every single car on BAT for the next 40 years.

What we’re trying to say is, it’s a lot of goddamn money, and he’ll probably spend it making shitty transphobic cartoons on Twitter, instead.