Tesla shareholders have approved a record-breaking pay package for boss Elon Musk that could be worth nearly $1 trillion (£760bn).
The unprecedented deal was approved by 75% of Tesla shareholders who cast votes during the firm's annual general meeting on Thursday.
The deal requires Musk, who is already the world's richest man, to drastically raise the electric car firm's market value over a period of years. If he meets various targets, he will be rewarded with hundreds of millions of new shares.
The scale of the deal is controversial, but the Tesla board argued that Musk might leave the company if it was not approved - and that it could not afford to lose him.
The announcement drew loud applause from the audience at the meeting in Austin, Texas. Musk took to the stage and danced to chants of his name.
What we're about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book, he said.
Other shareholder meetings are snoozefests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick, Musk added.
The milestones Musk must achieve include raising Tesla's market value from $1.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion.
He would also need to get a million self-driving Robotaxi vehicles into commercial operation.
However, his early remarks placed the spotlight on the Optimus robot, unsettling some analysts and Tesla fans who wish Musk would concentrate on bolstering the company’s core electric vehicle business.
Let it sink in where Musk's head is at, remarked analyst Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, via X. He noted that Musk's vision appears to center around Optimus, with no mention of cars or robotaxis.
While later discussing Tesla's Full-Self Driving (FSD) feature, Musk stated the company is almost comfortable allowing drivers to text and drive essentially. He also compared navigating regulatory challenges to being in a Franz Kafka novel.
U.S. regulators are currently investigating Tesla's self-driving feature after multiple incidents involving the cars—some leading to accidents wherein vehicles ran red lights or drove in the wrong direction.
