Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm appeared on Bloomberg TV this morning to discuss the current status of CEO Elon Musk’s compensation plan, and used the opportunity to reiterate a widely unmentioned key point of the entire package.

Critics of the proposed pay package, which would pay Musk $1 trillion if he completes every tranche, routinely cite the sheer size of the payday.

Of course, many skeptics leave out the fact that he would only get that money if he were able to generate eight times the value the company currently has.

Tesla gains massive vote of confidence on compensation plan for Elon Musk

For Musk, it might have a little bit to do with money, but that is likely a very small percentage point of why the compensation package is being offered to him. He has reiterated that it is more about voting control and overall influence, especially as Tesla dives into robotics.

He said during the Q3 Earnings Call:

“My fundamental concern with regard to how much voting control I have at Tesla is if I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ousted at some point in the future? That’s my biggest concern. That is really the only thing I’m trying to address with this. It’s called compensation, but it’s not like I’m going to go spend the money. It’s just, if we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army, not current control, but a strong influence? That’s what it comes down to in a nutshell. I don’t feel comfortable wielding that robot army if I don’t have at least a strong influence.”

Tesla shares the idea that Musk is a crucial part of the company, and without him being awarded the voting control he feels he deserves, he could leave the company altogether.

The company is very obviously feeling the importance of the upcoming vote, as it has advertised and pushed heavily for the comp plan to be approved, mostly to retain Musk.

Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm said today to Bloomberg TV that it is crucial shareholders understand it is not about Musk’s potential wealth, but more about his influence on company decisions:

“So firstly, it is a performance package, so he gets nothing if he doesn’t perform against the pretty audacious milestones that are part of the performance criteria that’s been outlined by the board in the performance package. So, I think rather than compensation, it’s actually about the performance and the goals that we have for the company as we move forward. And so, for me, it really is about making sure that investors understand that they actually get paid if he hits the milestones before he will…Elon’s been very public, including on last week’s earnings call, about the fact that it’s around the voting influence that he could have in future shareholder meetings as opposed to the economic interests.”

Musk is not an incredibly flashy person. He does not have crazy cars or a massive house to go back to. He spends a lot of his time working and sometimes even sleeps at his office inside the factory.

He recently said he “only has what is needed” because “material possessions were making him weak.”

Material possessions were making me weak, so now I have only what is needed

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2025

xAI’s latest creation, Grokipedia, has gone live, and even if it’s only at Version 0.1, it is already receiving positive reviews from some users. These include Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia, which has become quite controversial in recent years over accusations of bias.

Grokipedia launches

Immediately after Grokipedia went live, the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was tested by numerous users. So far, a good number of testers have responded positively to the online encyclopedia, with many observing that Grokipedia does tend to be more neutral than Wikipedia. This was particularly evident in controversial topics, from alternative medicine to events like Gamergate.

Among these users was Larry Sanger, who noted that while Grokipedia still has a lot of areas of improvement, it is already very promising. “My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say “maybe!” He wrote in a post on X. 

Musk responded to Sanger’s comments, stating that the Wikipedia co-founder’s observations are “accurate.” The xAI founder also noted in a separate X post that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia is already better than Wikipedia. 

Why Grokipedia exists 

During an interview on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger point out that Wikipedia has become a far cry from his initial vision for the online encyclopedia, and a lot of this was because of the its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” page, which categories publications and sources into tiers of credibility. Sanger noted that the list leaned heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal.

Musk responded to Sanger’s comments by stating that Grokipedia will be created as a step towards xAI’s broader goal of “understanding the Universe.” He added that Grokipedia, which will use xAI’s Grok, would provide broader sourcing and a freer exchange of information compared to Wikipedia’s current system. 

One month after Elon Musk’s comments, Grokipedia has gone live in its V0.1 form.

A Tesla analyst says there is “zero chance” that CEO Elon Musk’s new compensation package is rejected, a testament to the loyalty and belief many shareholders and investors have in the frontman.

Tesla investors will vote on November 6 at the annual Shareholder Meeting to approve a new compensation package for Musk, revealed by the company’s Board of Directors earlier this month.

The package, if approved, would give Musk the opportunity to earn $1 trillion in stock, an ownership concentration of over 27 percent (a major request of Musk’s), and a solidified future at the company.

The Tesla Community on X, the social media platform Musk bought in 2023, is overwhelmingly in favor of the pay package, though a handful of skeptics remain.

Nevertheless, the big pulls of this vote are held by proxy firms and other large-scale investors. Two of them, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, said they would be voting against Musk’s proposed compensation plan.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package hits first adversity from proxy firm

Today, the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA) said it would vote in favor of Musk’s newly-proposed pay day, making it the first large-scale shareholder to announce it would support the CEO’s pay.

One analyst said that Musk’s payday is inevitable. Gary Black of the Future Fund said today there is a “near-zero chance” that shareholders will allow Musk’s pay package to be rejected:

“There is a near-zero chance that $TSLA shareholders will vote down Elon’s new proposed comp plan at the Nov 6 shareholders’ meeting.”

He added an alternative perspective from Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who said that he had a better chance of starting for the New York Yankees than the comp package not being approved.

There is a near zero chance that $TSLA shareholders will vote down Elon’s new proposed comp plan at the Nov 6 shareholders’ meeting. As Wedbush analyst Dan Ives (@divestech) colorfully put it in a Yahoo Finance interview on October 23rd: “I have a better chance of starting for…

— Gary Black (@garyblack00) October 27, 2025

Black’s the Future Fund sold its Tesla holdings earlier this year. He explained that the firm believed the company’s valuation was too disconnected from fundamentals, citing the P/E ratio of 188x and declining earnings estimates.

The firm maintained its $310 price target, and shares were trading at $356.90 that day.

Shares closed at $452.42 today.

The latest predictions from betting platform Kalshi have shown Musk’s comp package has a 94 percent chance of being approved:

https://t.co/uZ67o1Ft1y

— Kalshi (@Kalshi) October 20, 2025