Tesla has published a video highlighting Elon Musk’s new CEO Performance Award, which is expected to take the company all the way to a market cap of $8.5 trillion. 

Musk’s pay package will be voted on by Tesla shareholders at the company’s upcoming annual meeting of stockholders this coming November 6.

Tesla’s proposal

In its post, Tesla noted that the company pays for outstanding performance, not promises. Tesla noted that Musk’s previous pay plan, which has been fully accomplished, was intended to deliver billions to TSLA shareholders. This time around, the company is looking to deliver trillions to stockholders.

“We pay for outstanding performance – not for promises. In 2018, shareholders approved a groundbreaking CEO Performance Award that delivered extraordinary value. At our Annual Meeting on November 6, Tesla shareholders can vote on a pay-for-performance plan designed to drive our next era of transformational growth and value creation. Seven years ago, Elon Musk had to deliver billions to shareholders – now it’s trillions.

“This plan creates a path for Elon to secure voting rights and will retain him as a leader of the company for many years to come. But as explained below, Elon only receives voting rights after he has delivered economic value to you. Your vote matters. Vote ‘FOR’ Proposal 4!” Tesla wrote in its post on X. 

Ambitious targets

The package calls for Elon Musk to grow Tesla’s market capitalization from its current $1.1 trillion to $8.5 trillion within the next decade. At that size, Tesla would surpass every other public company in history. For context, Nvidia, today’s most valuable company, is worth about $4.4 trillion, while Microsoft and Apple follow at $3.8 trillion and $3.7 trillion, respectively. Even Saudi Aramco, long among the world’s giants, holds a valuation of just $1.6 trillion.

To hit the $8.5 trillion target, Tesla must more than practically double Nvidia’s present value and expand nearly eightfold from its current scale. The plan also requires operating profit to soar from $17 billion in 2024 to $400 billion annually, while meeting ambitious product milestones: 20 million cumulative vehicle deliveries, 10 million active FSD subscriptions, 1 million Tesla Bots, and 1 million Robotaxis. 

If achieved, Musk’s stake in TSLA would rise to 25%, with compensation topping $900 billion in Tesla stock. In a post on X, Musk explained that his priority with is new compensation plan is not about gathering wealth, it was about securing influence. “If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Tesla pleaded with the Trump White House not to bail on crucial climate standards that would help keep vehicle emissions in check, warning of human dangers related to greenhouse gases.

Tesla wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent proposal to roll back standards for tailpipe emissions would be a major setback in the fight to limit damage to the climate.

It suggested that abandoning the standards “would give a pass to engine and vehicle manufacturers for all measurement, control, and reporting of GHG emissions for any highway engine and vehicle,” Reuters said in its report.

Trump has been a critic of environmental standards, and earlier this week, during a speech with the U.N., said that climate change was “the greatest con-job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion.”

NOW – Trump: “Climate change— it’s the greatest con-job ever perpetrated on the world.” pic.twitter.com/BZp9jX0d9w

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 23, 2025

Tesla’s tone on the potential rollback of climate standards was countered by that of General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and “nearly all other major automakers,” who requested the EPA delay the emissions goals.

Tesla stands to gain a lot from the emissions push. Other automakers simply cannot compete with Tesla’s tech, charging infrastructure, or self-driving program, and they have a significant advantage as they started developing EV tech more than a decade ago.

Legacy automakers, on the other hand, have continued to develop EVs, but have not managed to manufacture anything of extreme interest to most car buyers.

Individually, they have not dented Tesla’s market share in the U.S., but collectively, because of more offerings and improvements to their lineups, they have managed to take some of Tesla’s sales away.

It’s taken all of them to truly compete with Tesla in the big picture. However, the other companies still need to rely on combustion engine vehicles, at least in the short term, to generate revenue.

Since these companies are not meeting emissions targets, they are required to pay Tesla for compliance credits, which the company generated $2.8 billion in revenue from last year.

GM to pay $145.8 million fee for excess emissions

Tesla said in its letter that the EPA’s consideration of rolling back standards is destructive to the innovation of the automotive industry:

“[It] undermines the stability of this program, diminishes the value of performance-based incentives that electric vehicle manufacturers accrue under the standards, and creates an uneven playing field – reducing the inducement for investment in vehicle innovation.”

With President Trump’s skepticism on the issue of vehicle emissions, things don’t look like they will go in Tesla’s favor with this particular request.

Elon Musk spent some time trolling Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) skeptics following the company’s 23 percent boost over the past month.

Tesla’s rally on Wall Street over the past several weeks has completely erased any losses investors felt since the start of 2025. So far this year, shares have risen by over 13 percent.

Most of this has been evident over the past month, as the company has seen a nearly 25 percent increase in the past thirty days.

With the imminent abolishment of the $7,500 EV tax credit, some analysts and investors expected the stock to take a hit. It is no secret that the tax credit’s expiration will impact demand to some extent. In the short term, it has been strong for the company’s delivery outlook in Q3.

Musk trolled those who thought the stock would respond negatively to the tax credit going away:

A lot of people thought Tesla stock would collapse as the tax credits came to an end this month.

Guess not.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 25, 2025

The strength of Tesla shares over the past several weeks has prompted several analysts to adjust price targets and their firms’ overall outlook with the company’s automotive division, as well as its other projects.

Mizuho analysts pushed their price target from $375 to $450, mostly due to Tesla’s strength moving forward as a leader in the U.S. EV market.

Vijay Rakesh, managing director at the firm, wrote in a note to investors:

“We see TSLA maintaining key leadership in the U.S. BEV market despite some near-term challenges.”

Mizuho raises Tesla (TSLA) price target on stronger 2026 outlook

Some of this strength relies on the rollout of the lower-cost “Model 2,” which Tesla said it built the first production units of in its Q2 Earnings Shareholder Deck.

Goldman Sachs also increased its Tesla price target from $300 to $395, which is still below the current trading levels.

However, the firm is more bullish on the company’s humanoid robotics and autonomy projects:

“If Tesla can have [an] outsized share in areas such as humanoid robotics and autonomy, then there could be upside to our price target.”

Tesla shares are currently trading at $424.54 at the time of publication.