Due to Tesla‘s stock price, Elon Musk received the biggest payday for any U.S. executive in history worth $706 million USD.
Musk’s contract with Tesla’s board of directors prompted the payout as he met certain conditions which provided him with 12 tranches, each released when a predetermined set of milestones were achieved. The last obstacle for Musk was for Tesla’s average market capitalization over the past six months to reach $100 billion USD, which was successfully achieved this week. Three other conditions were previously met, involving a $100 billion USD trailing market value over 30 days, $20 billion USD in Tesla’s revenue and $1.5 billion USD in earnings.
With all that being said, Elon Musk now has 1.69 million stock options, which can be bought at just $350.02 USD per share. Doing the math, Tesla’s stock is currently at $768.21 USD so now the CEO can sell his shares to make $706 million USD.
Musk, 48, now sits on a $38.5 billion USD fortune.