Bloomberg Talks Tesla Chair Talks Musk's Pay, Succession Plans, Politics
Sep 12, 2025
Robyn Denholm, Chair of the Board at Tesla and former CFO, dives into Elon Musk's proposed $1 trillion pay package, tied to the company's ambitious goals. She reveals the board's intense discussions around Musk's compensation and political activities. The importance of leadership incentives and brand loyalty on Tesla's sales is highlighted, along with succession planning should Musk step back. Denholm also touches on shareholder discussions regarding AI investments and the safety innovations being rolled out in Tesla's designs.
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AI And Autonomy Are Tesla’s Next Decade
- Tesla views AI and autonomy as transformative core drivers for the next decade and ties them to company strategy.
- The board believes Elon Musk is uniquely positioned to lead that AI-driven transformation at Tesla.
Compensation Mirrors Master Plan 4
- The 2025 package mirrors the company's Master Plan 4 with 12 tranches combining market-cap and operational milestones.
- Milestones include 20M vehicles, 10M FSD subscriptions, a million robots, and market-cap targets up to $8.5T.
Measure Leaders By Company Results
- Focus executive effort on company results rather than policing personal political activity.
- Measure the CEO on delivering Tesla's goals and metrics as the board's primary assessment.