Tesla's $29B Bet on Musk: Robotaxis, Rivalries, and a Rogue CEO cover art

Tesla's $29B Bet on Musk: Robotaxis, Rivalries, and a Rogue CEO

Tesla's $29B Bet on Musk: Robotaxis, Rivalries, and a Rogue CEO

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 Major news this week centers on Tesla granting Elon Musk a staggering new pay deal valued at $29 billion, a dramatic move to keep him as CEO after a Delaware court struck down his prior $50 billion compensation plan. According to Fox Business and NPR, the interim grant of 96 million new shares comes with conditions—Musk needs to stay at the helm for two more years, can only cash in if courts do not resurrect the old package, and must hold the shares for five years. This headline-grabber is intended to anchor Musk at Tesla, especially as the company pivots aggressively from struggling EV sales to bets on robotaxis and humanoid robots. Tesla’s November annual meeting will see proposals for an even larger long-term compensation plan, suggesting the board’s gamble on Musk’s “extraordinary talent” is only intensifying despite legal wrangling, mounting public criticism, and evident pressure from shareholders and analysts worried about his split focus between Tesla, SpaceX, and his AI ventures. There is open concern that his volatile political alliances—most notably his high-profile, short-lived support for Donald Trump and $15 million donations—have soured both public and internal sentiment. Reuters and S&P Global Mobility confirm that Tesla’s U.S. brand loyalty cratered from 73% to under 50% in the wake of Musk’s Trump endorsement, with American sales down 8% and deeper slides in Europe, as rivals seize the moment to court former Tesla fans. In business operations, Tesla expanded Model Y production shifts at Gigafactory Texas—now stretching from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.—in a transparent push to lock in deliveries before federal $7,500 EV incentives expire, according to recent YouTube walkthroughs and CleanTechnica reporting. Monthly lease deals for the Model Y start as low as $399 nationally and come paired with targeted customer incentives. Meanwhile, Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions surged into the spotlight. Teslarati and others note a cheeky, “middle finger” shaped geofence expansion of the Austin Robotaxi network, more than doubling its coverage in two months—a playfully defiant, very Musk move intended to taunt competitors and tout technical prowess. As for public appearances, while Musk has been active mainly through his social platform, X, his commentary veered sharply into social media culture wars; last weekend, he publicly urged users to quit Instagram, branding it addictive and algorithmically manipulative, an ongoing feud with Meta that he gleefully maintains on X. Altogether, this past week has been a whirlwind of major boardroom drama, relentless product and market pushes, strategic media jabs, and a whole lot of Musk managing the narrative—regardless of whether the stock or the sentiment agree with him.

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