How Much Should the World’s Richest Man Get Paid?

Tesla’s board should make it clear to Musk that he has to show up and do the job—and be serious about planning for an eventual replacement, said Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, a pay-consulting firm.

That could mean he has less time to spend on SpaceX, government work and his other ventures.

“Why should Tesla have to pay for that? It’s making some requirements about him being involved, having some succession—and starting to run it like a real company,” Johnson said. “If you stay and create value, you’ll make an awful lot of money. But if you don’t want to be involved or you don’t create value, you won’t.”

That done, the board should think big—Musk is clearly motivated by the potential to reap billions of dollars in Tesla shares, Johnson added. “There’s no point in putting out millions when for him that would be irrelevant,” Johnson said. “It would be a lot of billions.”

Tesla should also keep the structure of Musk’s pay simpler, Johnson said. His 2018 option grant was too intricate, with a dozen tranches and even more discrete market and operating targets.

This time, he recommends eliminating the complexity and paying for stock-price performance that beats the market, or even matches it, given that Tesla may no longer be the red-hot growth engine it once was.

“The value today is enormous, and I think that has to be recognized—so maintaining or growing it relative to the market should be worth an awful lot of money,” Johnson said. “It’s about value creation. It’s not about how many cars you’re going to sell.”

The Wall Street Journal / June 1, 2025