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Elon's Trillion-Dollar Gambit: Tesla, Politics, and the Quest for Control

Elon's Trillion-Dollar Gambit: Tesla, Politics, and the Quest for Control

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In the past few days, Elon Musk has managed to keep headlines spinning with an intensity matching his own hyperactive career. The most consequential development is Tesla’s board proposing a staggering 1 trillion dollar pay package, a potential record-breaker at ten times the size of his controversial 2018 deal. Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm defended the package in interviews with Bloomberg and The New York Times, framing it as crucial for keeping Musk laser-focused on Tesla’s ultra-ambitious targets: ramping market value to 8.5 trillion over the next decade, selling 12 million cars, and putting a million robotaxis on the road. While observers have questioned the optics of such a reward amid falling Tesla profits and sliding EV market share, Denholm insisted it’s about future performance, not past results, and notably acknowledged that Musk is drawn more by voting power than further personal riches. Still, she revealed Musk has made "genuine" threats to quit if he isn't assured greater control at Tesla, making this compensation plan something of a power play as much as a paycheck.

Tesla’s pivot to AI and robotics is central to this narrative, with Musk claiming Optimus humanoid robots and self-driving technology could drive 80 percent of Tesla’s future value. There’s even a buzz about Tesla taking an equity stake in Musk’s AI startup xAI, following a regulatory filing and the recent integration of xAI’s Grok AI into Tesla vehicles. Yet Musk’s sprawling commitments remain non-stop—alongside Tesla, he still helms SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and now xAI, the latter of which laid off hundreds from its data annotation team just this week, according to Business Insider.

Musk’s political entanglements also continue to shake markets and rattle stakeholders. On Friday, he made a joint appearance with President Donald Trump at a White House press conference, a rare spectacle that has fueled rumors of further collaboration and sparked debate about Musk’s influence in American politics. Tesla’s board chair responded to analyst concerns, bluntly stating there are no restraints on Musk’s political activities, and doubling down that what matters is his performance as CEO. This, as Tesla continues to grapple with backlash—sales are down, the brand remains polarized, and vandalism has even struck showrooms.

Musk’s headline-grabbing didn’t stop in Washington. In London, his surprise video message at the massive Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally called for “revolutionary change,” painting Britain in lurid colors and urging crowds to fight for their futures, a move that drew both cheers and intense media criticism.

Socially, Musk remains a trending topic daily, whether it’s for court drama over his previous compensation, for Twitter/X banter, or for dropping down wealth rankings, with Bloomberg knocking him off the world’s richest slot—now occupied by Larry Ellison—as Oracle stock soars and Tesla stock languishes.

All told, Musk’s mix of boardroom drama, AI ambitions, political provocations, and social media omnipresence shows no sign of cooling. Whether or not major investors embrace his latest trillion dollar bid for control, this is a week where Musk’s lifelong pursuit of maximum leverage—for himself and his companies—remains the story.

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