Tesla Shareholder Backing Craters: Musk’s Pay Plan Support Plummets from 90% to 75% in 2025

Elon's golden parachute gets a reality check as Tesla investors tighten the purse strings.

The backlash builds: Once-unquestioned loyalty to Musk's compensation package erodes—fast. The boardroom isn't immune to shareholder revolts when stock performance wobbles.

By the numbers: Approval ratings nosedive by 15 percentage points in just a few years. Turns out even cult-like devotion has its limits when dilution risks loom.

Wall Street whispers: 'Maybe tying CEO pay to Mars colonization timelines wasn't peak fiduciary responsibility.'

Board backs $1T plan while top advisers say no

Elon’s new pay plan could eventually hand him about $1 trillion in Tesla stock over the next decade. That figure only becomes reality if the company hits a long list of performance targets.

The board rolled out the proposal last September and fully endorsed it. But two major advisory firms, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommended that shareholders vote it down.

The plan includes 12 tranches of stock awards, each tied to specific goals. To unlock the first batch, Tesla must hit a $2 trillion valuation, which is roughly $500 billion above its current market cap. But the targets aren’t just about stock price. Elon also has to meet some operational goals, unless certain “covered events” kick in; those give him a shortcut to collect even if some of the results fall short.

The vote came down to risk. As Andrew, who leads corporate governance at Columbia Threadneedle, put it, “Most investors recognize that Tesla and Elon Musk are inextricably linked,” and said shareholders were “unwilling to risk his potential departure by allowing this vote to fail.”

That pressure to keep Elon close outweighed concerns from critics, at least enough to pass the deal, but just barely.

Even with the resistance, Elon could still walk away with more than $50 billion if he hits just a few of the more reachable goals. That makes it one of the largest pay packages ever seen, even as Tesla’s fundamentals get shakier.

Energy business sees gains as vehicle sales slow

While Elon was securing his paycheck, Tesla’s energy division quietly delivered a record-setting quarter. In Q3, the company deployed 12.5 GWh of battery storage systems, a massive 81% increase year-over-year.

That growth came from rising demand for Megapacks used in utilities and Powerwalls installed in homes. The energy side of the business pulled in $3.4 billion in revenue, up 27% from the same time last year, and posted a 31% gross margin, beating the car business.

Michael Snyder, Tesla’s VP of energy and charging, said the company got “very strong positive customer feedback” for its new Megablock platform, which launched at the RE+ trade show in Las Vegas.

The first shipments will head out of Houston next year, while Elon teased the upcoming Megapack 4, hinting at bigger storage capacity for the next version.

Tesla’s energy division is starting to matter more. As tariffs rise, EV tax credits expire, and competition from other automakers heats up, vehicle sales have taken a hit. That’s opened the door for battery storage systems to step up.

Tesla is now seeing strong demand from data centers, utility companies, and businesses looking for reliable and renewable backup power, even as the company’s automotive margins shrink.

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