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Tesla CEO Elon Musk Earns Minimum Wage According To Financial Report

By Val Powell
Published on: 20:49 PST, Apr 17, 2016

Tesla Motor Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk earns minimum wage in the company he founded according to company filings.

Tesla Motor reportedly paid its founder Elon Musk $37, 584 last year, which was the minimum wage requirement in California.

However, he received $5.27 million stock options back in 2012 as compensation for ten years of service, a company filing at the time stated.

Tesla’s six directors also receive small compensation ranging from $20,000 to $45,000, depending on membership in board committees, but each one of them is granted stock options worth more than $4.5 million.

Tesla’s new chief financial officer (CFO) Jason Wheeler received $20.9 million mostly in stock options awards. According to the newest filing on Friday, of his $20.9 million compensation, his salary was $46, 154. Wheeler joined the motor company in November.

Tesla’s chief technical officer (CTO) JB Straubel reportedly earned $250,560 while the company’s Vice President of Engineering, Doug Field, was compensated $306,923 plus stock awards worth $2,808,785, Tesla stated in its proxy statement.

The company’s proxy statement also indicated that Tesla is following its “startup origins” by paying its employees through equity awards and salary. Under their compensation rule, Tesla also does not compensate its senior executive officers in any form of a cash bonus.

Elon Musk is not the only CEO who got paid either within, or below the minimum wage. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was allegedly paid $1 in 2014. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs took small compensation for his services in the highly successful Apple Company. Twitter paid its CEO Jack Dorsey $68,506 last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The CEO’s salary falls within the current minimum wage requirement set forth by the California law. However, he does not accept his salary.

“The base salary for Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer, continues to reflect the current minimum wage requirements under California law, and Mr. Musk still does not accept this salary,” Tesla Motor’s proxy statement explained.

Even though he gets a small compensation, Musk owns the largest stake in the company, with 26.5 percent of Tesla shares.

The 44-year-old entrepreneur and startup innovator purchased almost 37.2 million Tesla shares on December 31, 2015. His share in Tesla is now estimated to be $9.5 billion following Friday’s closing price of $254.51, and he also owns stakes worth millions in other companies.

“We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer, Product Architect, Chairman of our Board of Directors and largest stockholder. Although Mr. Musk spends significant time with Tesla and is highly active in our management, he does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla,” Tesla’s 10-k report stated, explaining the risks to Musk’s role in the motor company.

“Mr. Musk also currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Space Exploration Technologies, a developer, and manufacturer of space launch vehicles, and Chairman of SolarCity, a solar provider,” the document continued.

Musk purchased almost $10 million worth of Solar City’s shares in February. He now owns $450 million worth of shares in the solar power company. Besides Solar City and Tesla, Musk is also the CEO of SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer.

Elon Musk is aiming to hit the mass market with its new Tesla Model 3 electric cars, unveiled on March 31. It has been reported that almost 400,000 Model 3 pre-orders have been purchased within a few weeks after it was launched. The company is expected to earn $14 billion worth of sales for the Tesla electric car.

[Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Images]

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