LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Speaking of Elon Musk, Tesla shareholders will vote today on how to compensate the company's CEO. Musk could get a pay package worth up to $1 trillion. To call it unusually large is an understatement. But as NPR's Camila Domonoske reports, this isn't just about money.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: What could you do with $1 trillion? We did some back-of-the-envelope math. A trillion dollars could buy every new Rolls-Royce, private jet and superyacht sold in a year for 10 years, and what's left over would still be more than the GDP of most countries. Now, Musk would get this enormous payday in stock only if he meets some targets for Tesla within the next 10 years, like making stock prices soar and selling a million robots. And all that stock would also mean more control over Tesla. Robyn Denholm, the chair of Tesla's board, has publicly said that's the real goal. Here she is on CNBC.
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ROBYN DENHOLM: It's less about compensation and more about the voting influence.
DOMONOSKE: Musk says the same thing. Here he is on a call with investors and analysts last month.
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ELON MUSK: It's called compensation, but it's not like I'm going to go spend the money.
DOMONOSKE: Why does Musk want more influence? Well, he says it's all about those robots, because remember - to unlock this money, he has to sell a million robots. Tesla is working on a humanoid robot called Optimus. Musk believes someday these robots will be pervasive - one for every family, all of them running Tesla software. And he wants to make sure that if he builds what he calls this robot army, he stays in charge of it.
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MUSK: It's just, you know, if we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army? Not control, but a strong influence.
DOMONOSKE: And many Tesla shareholders think Musk being in control is key to Tesla's future. They've previously approved a $55 billion payday twice, which has been tied up in court for years.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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