Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla payout sparks criticism: 'Obscene'

Elon Musk has said he needs more control over Tesla, which includes him taking home an eye-watering $1 trillion in exchange for building an “enormous robot army," and this request has since been approved by shareholders.

The billionaire CEO made the proposal during an earnings call last month, where he asked shareholders to vote on his substantial payment package so that he remains in charge of Tesla's humanoid robots.

On November 7, Tesla's annual shareholder meeting took place, where shareholders voted to approve the substantial package.

What was Musk's argument for this?

Putting his case forward on the October call, Musk said, “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?”

“If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army? Not control, but a strong influence … I don't feel comfortable building that robot army unless I have a strong influence," he added. "That would be my biggest concern."

We saw the Optimus robots in action at Tesla’s Cybercab event last year (which was later revealed to be under remote control by humans) and then earlier this year at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, where they were serving drinks and popcorn as well as entertaining customers.

A Tesla Optimus robot scoops popcorn and waves at attendees during the opening of a Tesla Diner and Drive-In restaurant Patrick T. Falon/AFP via Getty Images

Musk himself acknowledged the challenge of building dexterous human-like robot hands on the call. That being said, he believes Optimus will be Tesla's “biggest product of all time”, with talk of robot surgeons and humanoid robots doing work for humans, he reckons Optimus will be “an infinite money glitch" for the tech company, as reported by WIRED.

Critics slam Musk's new Tesla pay package

Since the news of Musk securing his 1 trillion dollar pay package has made headlines, it has received criticism on social media.

Senator Bernie Sanders declared, "This is what oligarchy looks like."

"If you're Elon Musk, the richest man alive, Tesla gives you a $1 trillion pay package & Trump gives you a huge tax break. If you're a poor kid on SNAP, Trump appeals a court decision that would have prevented you from going hungry. Obscene."

"50% of workers can't afford healthcare. People are using buy now, pay later apps to go into debt to buy groceries," said Melanie D'Arrigo.

"GoFundMe has 250k pages for medical bills and 40k for tuition. … and Elon Musk gets a $1 trillion pay out. And people think moms getting SNAP are the problem."

“Elon Musk just got $1tn for failure. Sales are down, safety risks are up, and his politics are driving customers away. This isn’t leadership – it’s the world’s most expensive participation trophy, protest group Tesla Takedown said in a statement.

Targets Musk needs to meet

Now, there are certain hoops Musk would need to jump through before receiving such a massive payout. This includes producing 1 million robotaxis and 1 million humanoid robots, along with increasing Tesla’s valuation (we're talking by trillions).

“It’s called compensation. But it’s not like I’m going to go spend the money,” the Tesla CEO also said during the call. “It’s just, if we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army? Not control, but a strong influence.”

If successful with these targets, this would skyrocket billionaire Musk - who is already the world's richest man - to a whole new level of wealth and power.

Elsewhere from Indy100, Musk’s 'gay' meme slammed as 'homophobia wrapped in juvenile humour', and Watch Space X launch 111th flight successful flight

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.