A Vision So Grand, It Needs Its Own Currency

Tesla’s vision for the next decade is so grand that it seems to require its own currency—and that currency is a potential trillion-dollar pay package for its CEO. The sheer scale of the proposal is a reflection of the scale of the company’s ambitions, which go far beyond cars and into the very fabric of the future economy.
The plan to build a million-strong robotaxi fleet isn’t just a product launch; it’s a bid to create a new, multi-trillion-dollar mobility industry. The goal of deploying a million humanoid robots isn’t just a manufacturing target; it’s an attempt to redefine the future of labor itself. These are not incremental improvements; they are foundational shifts.
A vision of this magnitude cannot be incentivized with a conventional pay package. A few million dollars in stock options would be a rounding error against the backdrop of creating entirely new industries. The board’s logic seems to be that to motivate someone to achieve a multi-trillion-dollar outcome, the incentive must be on a correspondingly epic scale.
Thus, the trillion-dollar deal becomes a symbol of the vision itself. Its size is meant to communicate the seriousness and the sheer potential of the company’s plans. It’s a statement that Tesla is playing a different game than any other company on Earth, a game so big it needs its own unique form of currency.