The latest news from SpaceX reveals that the company disclosed in its S-1 filing on Wednesday that its founder and CEO, Musk, could receive over 1.3 billion shares if the rocket, artificial intelligence, and social media company reaches certain market valuation and operational milestones.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, these two awards are granted under separate names and have a combined value of approximately $760 billion, calculated based on their respective market valuation targets.
It is certain that, in order to achieve maximum returns, Musk needs to accomplish some milestones that sound like science fiction, including establishing a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million residents.
In addition to a compensation package similar to that of Tesla (where Musk also serves as CEO), the 54-year-old entrepreneur stands to receive equity awards worth approximately $1.8 trillion if his company meets its targets. If all the conditions for these rewards are fulfilled, each one would individually become the most expensive compensation package in history.
Jason Schlacter, associate professor of accounting at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, said, “These awards are clearly unprecedented and unbelievable.”
Neither Musk nor SpaceX responded to requests for comment.
In January, SpaceX’s board approved a larger equity incentive plan, including up to 1 billion performance-based Class B restricted shares to be issued in equal installments over 15 years. To fully vest the equity, SpaceX (officially known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) must achieve a market valuation of $7.5 trillion. Additionally, all equity awards will only become effective once SpaceX establishes a colony on Mars.
According to Bloomberg’s calculations, the reward amount would be approximately $600 billion if the arrangement reaches its maximum market value.
This smaller compensation package is a restructured version of the agreement Musk previously reached with xAI—his artificial intelligence and social media company, which merged with SpaceX in February this year. The plan includes 302.1 million shares divided into 12 tranches, each tied to valuation targets ranging from $1.065 trillion to $6.565 trillion. For any tranche to vest, the company must establish an “off-Earth data center capable of delivering 100 exaflops of computing power annually.”
If SpaceX achieves these goals, Musk’s bonus will be worth nearly $160 billion.
“I think you should take a look at these things and realize that this is merely a vision,” said independent compensation consultant Dan Walter. “There are very few ways to achieve the goal of Mars colonization in his lifetime, and most of them are nearly science fiction.”
SpaceX stated in the filed documents that no equity compensation expenses for these two awards have been recognized, as “both performance milestones are considered unlikely to be achieved.” Both awards are contingent on Musk remaining employed at SpaceX, but they do not include performance timelines, meaning there is no time limit for achieving the targets.
