Yahoo Finance Tesla CEO Elon Musk awarded stock worth more than $700 million as electric car maker hits goals
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has qualified for a compensation package worth about $770 million after the electric vehicle company hit certain goals reflecting its rapid growth in recent years.
Tesla confirmed in a public filing that it awarded Musk the first tranche of a compensation package adopted in 2018. The package ties all of Musk's compensation to the company's financial performance. He does not receive a salary.
The company said he had received the right to buy about 1.688 million shares of Tesla stock at a price of $350.02, which is where the stock was trading when the compensation package was set.
It was not immediately clear whether Musk had yet exercised his options, which would be worth about $770 million based on Thursday's closing price of $805.81.
Tesla's stock price has more than quadrupled over the last 12 months and has more than doubled since his pay package was announced.
He is required to hold the shares for at least five years, according to the public filing.
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Musk owned 20.8% of Tesla as of Dec. 31, a stake worth more than $31 billion as of Thursday.
He received the latest stock options because Tesla achieved at least $20 billion in annual revenue, $100 billion in market capitalization and $1.5 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The pay package was designed to reward Musk over time as Tesla grows. It would provide tens of billions of dollars in compensation to Musk if the company achieves all of its financial goals, including its highest goal of a total market value of $650 billion. The company was worth about $149 billion as of Thursday.
Musk is also the CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which is poised to fly NASA astronauts on one of its rockets to the International Space Station on Saturday in a milestone achievement for the company. SpaceX is not publicly traded and is thus not required to report executive compensation.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tesla CEO Elon Musk awarded $700M+ in stock for hitting goals
