‘Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk’ – why investors are happy to pay him $1tn
For all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk.Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world’s richest person on the path to become the world’s first trillionaire, despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile.Shareholders approved the $1tn compensation plan, which could yield the largest corporate payout in history if he meets a series of tough-looking goals, not least pushing Tesla from its current market value of $1.4tn to $8.5tn (£1.
06tn to £6.4tn).Musk’s fortune, which includes a stake of about 12.5% in Tesla, is already worth $461bn.“Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk,” says Dan Ives, a managing director at the US financial firm Wedbush.
“Despite some of the brand damage Musk has caused to Tesla during his political stint, the AI future at Tesla depends on Elon.”Ives is a self-described Tesla “core bull” who nonetheless has consistently raised concerns about the damage that the chief executive’s political stance has been doing to one of the world’s best-known brands.Tesla sales suffered as Musk’s on-off relationship with Trump – funding his presidential campaign and his stint leading sweeping cuts at the “department of government efficiency” – damaged the appeal of its vehicles to a left-leaning consumer base.There were signs of trouble before that as well, with market research firm Strategic Vision recording a sharp decline in regard for Tesla since Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022, rolled back content moderation on the platform and reinstated banned accounts.Other off-putting factors have been swirling around the Trump soap opera, such as reports of Musk’s alleged extensive drug consumption, his public support for far-right political parties and making fascist-style salutes at political rallies.
At one point in March, Ives warned that Tesla and Musk were embroiled in a “brand tornado crisis moment” as the backlash against the boss’s behaviour became a global problem amid falling sales.Other factors were at play in Tesla’s commercial wobbles, not least stiff competition from Chinese-made vehicles, but Musk’s notoriety has had an impact.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionSo why have investors stuck by Musk? Shares in Tesla have risen by nearly two-thirds since May, when the Tesla chief executive announced he was leaving the Trump administration (and then worrying investors by falling out with the president publicly).Third-quarter deliveries – a proxy for sales – trounced Wall Street estimates last month thanks to US consumers taking advantage of expiring federal tax credits for electric vehicles, although European sales suffered and analysts warned that Musk needs to cushion a post-credit slowdown by selling cheaper models.Another factor is the culture among US investors of backing high-flying innovators and entrepreneurs.
For instance, Mark Zuckerberg’s control of Meta has not been challenged and Jeff Bezos had a long reign at the top of Amazon before stepping down in 2021.Indeed, most Tesla shareholders seemed concerned that Musk was devoting too little time to the company, instead of wanting him to leave altogether.“Money talks in the US more,” says Neil Wilson, an investor strategist at financial trading platform Saxo Markets.“The US has a far more entrepreneurial, free-wheeling, go-get-’em attitude so they are inclined to let innovators innovate.Plus Musk is a one-off – without him Tesla would be nowhere.
”Other incentives in Musk’s $1tn pay package include delivering 20m Tesla vehicles, 10m self-driving car subscriptions, 1m humanoid robots and 1m robotaxis,These targets, particularly the robots and autonomous vehicles, require the kind of entrepreneurial and technological chutzpah that Musk has shown at Tesla and his rocket company SpaceX,Matthias Schmidt, an automotive industry analyst, says the added value Musk has brought to Tesla’s stock is “undeniable” and has made “many people rich, including himself”,However, Schmidt adds that Tesla’s core car business has reached its peak and describes the autonomous vehicle plans as “certainly not the best in the market”,“Have shareholders been naively blind-sided by past achievements rather than the foresight of future prospects? Perhaps!” he says.
Most Tesla investors are willing to bet $1tn otherwise.
Seth Meyers on Mamdani’s win: ‘The kind of energy Democrats have been desperately seeking for years’
Late-night hosts reacted to Democrats’ slate of wins across the country and Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in the New York City mayoral race.On Late Night, Seth Meyers celebrated Mamdani’s historic victory in the New York mayoral race, becoming the first south Asian and Muslim mayor of the biggest city in the US, as well as New York’s first mayoral candidate since 1969 to receive more than a million votes.“This is the kind of energy Democrats have been desperately seeking for years,” said an enthusiastic Meyers. “I haven’t seen a crowd of New Yorkers this excited since the time the real Timotheé Chalamet stopped at a Timotheé Chalamet lookalike contest in Manhattan.“And if you thought Trump was bummed about the results before Mamdani’s speech, he probably felt even worse” when he heard Mamdani say: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!”“OK, first of all, you do not need to tell him to turn the volume up,” Meyers joked
Garden shed of vaccine pioneer Edward Jenner added to heritage at risk register
Hut where father of immunology trialled first smallpox vaccine among 138 additions to Historic England listA rustic, ordinary-looking English garden hut regarded as the birthplace of immunology – revolutionising global public health and saving countless lives – has been added to the nation’s heritage at risk register.The hut belonged to Edward Jenner (1749-1823), regarded as someone who has saved more lives than any other human. It was there that he first trialled a vaccine for smallpox in the late 18th century.The hut, built from brick and rubble stone with a simple thatched roof, was christened “the Temple of Vaccinia” by Jenner.Today the structure in Gloucestershire is in a sorry state and is one of 138 buildings and sites added by Historic England to its annual heritage at risk register
Miss Piggy movie on way from Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Cole Escola
Miss Piggy is getting the movie star treatment, courtesy of Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone.A feature film about the diva puppet is in the works at Disney, which owns the rights to the Muppets franchise, Variety reported on Wednesday. Lawrence and Stone will serve as producers, working with a script from Oh, Mary! creator Cole Escola.“I don’t know if I can announce this but I am just going to … Emma Stone and I are producing a Miss Piggy movie and Cole is writing it,” Lawrence revealed on Las Culturistas podcast hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. When the excited cohosts asked whether Lawrence and Stone, longtime friends and two of the most successful film actors of their generation, would co-star in the project, Lawrence teased: “I think so
Colbert on Pelosi calling Trump a vile creature: ‘You know who agrees? Most Americans’
Late-night hosts looked back on comments made by Nancy Pelosi about Donald Trump and examined the last-minute campaigning for the New York mayoral race.On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert spoke about the big night for New York. He said that election night in the US is known internationally as “Guys, come look, they’re about to do something stupid!”He spoke about Zohran Mamdani’s late campaign push, hitting multiple clubs and bars in an episode that was taped just before the Democratic candidate made history winning the majority of votes.His major competition, Andrew Cuomo, picked up endorsements from Elon Musk, Eric Adams, George Santos and Stephen Miller, AKA “everyone New Yorkers love”.Colbert also joked that support came from “subway seat puddle” and “your neighbour with the trumpet”
De Niro to JLaw: should celebrities be expected to speak out against Trump?
If you were hoping Jennifer Lawrence might be able to tell you who to vote for and why, you’re in for some disappointment. “I don’t really know if I should,” the actor told the New York Times recently when asked about speaking up about the second Trump administration – and she’s not the only one. “I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think,” Sydney Sweeney recently told GQ, after a year in which she was the subject of controversy over a jeans ad and a possible Republican voter registration. This marks a shift from Donald Trump’s first term, when more celebrities seemed not just comfortable speaking out against the administration, but obligated to do so. Now voters will no longer be able to so easily consult with Notes-app-made posts on Instagram to decide who and what they care about before they head to the polls
Jon Stewart on Trump’s Gatsby party: ‘The theme was apparently gross income inequality’
Late-night hosts reacted to Donald Trump Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party held just hours before millions of Americans lost their food stamp benefits.On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart mocked House speaker Mike Johnson’s insistence that Trump is “desperate for Snap benefits to flow to the American people”, even as his administration let the largest food assistance program in the nation, supporting around 42 million Americans, lapse during the government shutdown.Stewart played a clip of Johnson assuring that Trump “is a big-hearted president”.“Is he? Big-hearted? Loves us?” Stewart replied. “Because again, and maybe I’m misinterpreting it, but he did just recently dump diarrhea on all of us
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