Elon Musk's latest Tesla pay valued at $158bn - but he can't pocket it

Tesla has disclosed that its compensation for billionaire boss Elon Musk is valued at a staggering $158bn (£117bn) in 2025, according to regulatory filings submitted on Thursday. However, the company also revealed that Musk will not be receiving any of it - for now. The valuation reflects the firm's estimate of what Musk would earn should he meet the terms of an astronomical pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders in November.

This deal could see Musk awarded shares worth up to $1tn if he hits ambitious milestones, including raising the company's market value to $8.5tn. Analysts say Musk still has a significant way to go before achieving these goals, making the monster pay package nominal only, for now at least. 'Elon Musk isn't actually going to pocket $158bn,' said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.

'He's still got a whole bunch of targets to hit and none of the milestones set out in the $1tn pay deal approved by shareholders last year were achieved in 2025.' Musk must meet a range of operational milestones to justify the pay-out, including targets that would see him awarded a stock grant of more than 400 million additional Tesla shares - worth around $1tn if the firm's market value is raised high enough. Hewson noted that 'the targets are suitably lofty, but investors wanted to refocus Musk on the EV maker and this unprecedented pay deal has certainly garnered a huge amount of publicity for the company and its boss.' As the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth of $651bn (Bloomberg) or $788bn (Forbes), Musk can afford to wait. His wealth, combined with that of his numerous other firms, means he doesn't need a salary for his work at Tesla.

With SpaceX poised to become one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, Musk 'can certainly bide his time,' according to Hewson. Musk is also embroiled in a court dispute with rival firm OpenAI, which he co-founded with Sam Altman in 2015. The billionaire entrepreneur has argued that Altman and fellow executive Greg Brockman 'stole a charity' by pursuing profit-generating initiatives he felt went against OpenAI's founding mission.