Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Tesla Deal: Is He Really Worth It?

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2:38PNC Bank, National Association, member FDIC. Elon Musk is the richest person in the world currently. Publicly now. Publicly. but he uh he he wants to approve he wants to have a one trillion dollar compensation plan approved um in a letter to investors and tesla's broad board he shared why he thought that this would be appropriate and pretty much said like you know if he doesn't get what he wants then he's gonna walk away from the company that he's you know made obviously famous and one of the most valuable companies in world history. Now it's important to keep in mind here. This payout package actually comes with benchmarks that have to be met.

3:31So the 1 trillion is the last part of it. If Tesla's valuation gets to$8.5 trillion, then his payout, then he'll earn$1 trillion over the course of that time. So 8.5 is a lot from where it is now. I think it's at one, a little bit more than one trillion right now. I can tell you right now. That would be, you know, 1.4. A tremendous gain from where it currently is, but it gives him an incentive. Now, some people will say, okay, well, he already has a lot of Tesla stock. So even if he's going to make hundreds of billions of dollars just from a Tesla stock. And then when the conversation back gets, why does he need an additional, you know, and then, you know, okay, it gets to 8 trillion.

4:23He gets 1 trillion. That's 14 % of the company's valuation. That's kind of a lot just from a payment standpoint. But then they're like, okay, well, if it gets to$8 trillion, the investors, I mean, that's a good thing for investors, right? That means that you've made 600 % on your money and nobody's going to be mad at that. So, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's unprecedented. that somebody would ask for a$1 trillion payment compensation package. So is that something that's reasonable? And as an investor, if anybody, because I'm sure there's a lot of people that's watching Market Mondays that might be invested in Tesla.

5:01And you should probably check wherever you're invested. You probably got a vote on this situation. If you're invested in Tesla, is this something that you think you want to go through with? Or do you feel comfortable risking Elon Musk walking away? A, from a negotiation standpoint, I think he's done a fantastic job. To be very clear, they have some very tough benchmarks in him to hit before he even gets to the$8.5 trillion value to then get$1 trillion. But if we're going to be very honest, Elon's a once-in-a-lifetime talent. and too often boards that are not once in a lifetime talent wants to tell the once in a lifetime talent how they should operate and given the business climate that we're in even though this is probably the greatest era in my lifetime we were talking about this yesterday troy in terms of investing this is probably the weakest class of non-exceptional companies that i ever seen that's publicly traded so if he's seeing the gap because let's be very clear without elon tesla essentially has no value especially if he takes his talents to focus on starlink primarily which is the real gem of a company i know it sounds like a lot it is a lot of money but if we're talking about driver of revenue driver of ecosystem driver of band and i said this two and a half few years ago.

6:38Eventually, he's going to go to chairman because Tesla's not the thing he wants to focus on. Now, he's going to force his way to get a trillion or force a way out in terms of exit. If you don't think this is having a significant impact, another once-in-a-lifetime talent, Warren Buffett, for the first time, Berkshire got downgraded because the once-in-a-lifetime talent is not in that seat. Because you have no great succession plan, no great product roadmap without him he hasn't elevated corporate executives in the public so that the retail investor knows what will come next he's in prime position to get this package so without him there is no company in 2010 the stock was at a dollar and 15 cent there's no value without him if we're gonna be very honest yeah we we had a once in well another once in a lifetime talent be voted out by his board by the name of Steve Jobs in 1985.

7:37Didn't work. Shout out to Scully. This will not work. This will not work either. I think Elon has said that he wants the 25%. So that's part of it that makes it a little bit tricky. He wants a 25 % voting control to stay fully committed. That's kind of like the threat. If I don't get a 25%, I'm going to take my focuses elsewhere. The problem is if he takes his focus elsewhere, what is Tesla? because if you listen to the earnings call that they just had, they talked nothing about cars. No. There wasn't even a mention of cars. He did not mention anything about the vehicles. Yep. All autonomous, all robotics.

8:17I think he actually talked about a robot doctor on the call, preempted it, didn't even get asked about it, but just decided that I'm just going to forward this information over. and so it goes back to the how are they being valued right is it just sediment we talked about again we talked about this yesterday yep some companies are just moving on set it's not fundamentals at this point right because tesla the automotive vehicle when we looked at sales i know sales were a little bit better this quarter but for the past two years they haven't been great and we've watched the stock climb and climb and then it pulls back on weak earnings and then the The next day it's up$30.

8:52And then last year it dropped. And then people said, you know, he's too focused on his government position. Then he decides I'm going to pull back from the government. And oh, he's back focused with Tesla. So it's just moving on the sentiment of the CEO. If that CEO removes himself from that equation, you're in for a winful. $95.62 billion in revenue. Key note, though. Gross margin, 17%. Net margin, 5%. 0.57%. They can't afford to lose a generation of talent. So it's a couple of ways to ruin a company. If you're an executive and you know that you're a once in a lifetime talent, and once again, has not raised the profile of executive management and all of the product roadmaps for the next 10 years is tied to you, they're between a rock and a hard place, unless they have an executive who is an incredible visionary, but all the incredible visionaries are tied to other companies and also keep in the back of your mind open ai was stolen from him he's he's credited as a as a co-founder for that but it goes into the that mind that that visionary mind he is the visionary mind right like a co-founder credit with no equity is no equity yeah nobody nobody's bigger than the program well no i just want to say this before you go into something else because when you think about maybe a year ago we were talking about keeping the main thing, the main thing.

10:19And Tesla was the main thing. I told you he was never going to stay there, though. It's generated enough revenue for him to now say, hey, I can take my talents elsewhere. I have Starlink. I have Neuralink. I have SpaceX. I have XAI. This is one of my favorite segments with Rashad, though. The program. Come on. You know, nobody's big on the program, but you can't negotiate with terrorists. And yeah, you can still. He is the program, though. nobody's bigger than the program in Tesla's case Elon is the program then it's not a valuable company if the company's stock is only tied to one person tied to one person then it's not a good company because say what you want about Apple it's at an all time high almost 10 years after Steve Jobs died it's at its highest valuation Microsoft is still running years after Bill Gates years after Balmer, it's still running and the equation of nobody's big in the program who is Elon in that equation?

11:29is he the program? I'm saying is that what you're saying? no what I'm saying is this there's two ways to look at Tesla as a company that actually has real value and provides something that the world needs as far as, you know, cars and then potentially robots and then autonomous driving. And in the next 50 years, it's going to be one of the most valuable companies in the world because of what they're providing, the services that they're providing. Or it's a way to look at it as it's a company that's a decent company that provides decent products and has a rockstar CEO. And it's a lot of that. And if we're going to be very clear, Tesla has always been that Tesla is not an except like exceptional innovation.

12:20Yes. Has it been a Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple? No, he was the driving force behind it. Is there other executive talent there that could take the realm? Yes. Will it have the blockbuster risings performance? No. Yeah. And as an entrepreneur, though, Rashad, because I agree with your point about the program. The other part of the game is to be so exceptional to the company that you write the program. I just left from watching Trot the other day. Who makes the program is very important. Yes, I agree to the Steve Jobs point. But Tim Cook also, I'm not going to say he got lucky, but there's a way he created the value there in terms of being an operator and then getting in bed with certain people in hedge funds to make that a valuable company.

13:06You can also say that that changed the structure of Apple. But you want to be so valuable that if you do leave, same way with Jordan the Bulls, as an entrepreneur, that the value is with you if you're building the business. Ernest, what's up? You ever walk into a small business and everything just works? Like the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital, tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door before the line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. We love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just feels seamless, whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor at a pop-up market, or even one of our merch partners.

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15:03Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, a.k.a. neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle? A shady hypnosis scam? Or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new.

15:41It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Della Rocha, host of Sacred Lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal. This year, we're talking honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life, Sacred Lessons is here for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Delaroach on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom Podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken.

16:16But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the valley of despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to The Mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. Hey, it's Joel. And Matt. From HowToMoney. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back.

16:48Prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.