Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Plan & Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick 9/5/25

Squawk Pod

CNBC

Investing, Business, News, Business News

4.2 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tesla is asking investors to approve another outsized pay plan for CEO Elon Musk of nearly $1 trillion. Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm says the plan was designed to keep Musk “motivated and focused on delivering for the company.” Then, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discusses the U.S. decision to lower tariffs on Japan, President Trump’s broader tariff agenda and the state of the economy where August’s payroll numbers came in significantly below expectations. Plus, CNBC’s Eamon Javers breaks down a ProPublica investigation into mortgages held by Trump cabinet members, and CNBC’s Angelica Peebles highlights the key takeaways from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's Senate hearing. Javers 3;42 Peebles 10:44 Denholm 20:27 Lutnick 33:35 In this episode: Howard Lutnick, @howardlutnick Angelica Peebles, @angelicapeebles Eamon Javers, @eamonjavers Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring in show music please.
0:03.0	This is SquawkPod.
0:06.0	I'm CNBC producer Claire Odomody.
0:08.0	Today.
0:09.0	Big news from Tesla.
0:11.0	The company has submitted a proposal for Elon Musk's compensation moving forward.
0:16.0	A trillion dollars is on the table if he delivers on some eye-popping milestones. Chair of
0:21.8	Tesla Robin Denham says motivating Musk is key. What were the right goals to be setting?
0:28.0	What was the right balance between the motivation and shareholder value creation?
0:33.0	And what were the right milestones to be putting in place in order to actually create the right plan.
0:39.1	12 milestones and 7.5 trillion dollars in shareholder value. It is about shooting for the moon,
0:45.1	if you like. A big payout but big results for shareholders first. This is as pay for performance
0:51.0	in my mind as it comes. Then, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, tariffs, a tech CEO dinner, and the vision in the White
0:59.2	House.
1:00.0	That's what this whole cabinet has to do.
1:02.0	They have to get rid of people who are against the president, against the elected leader of the
1:08.0	United States of America, and get people on side who just want America to win.
1:13.6	Plus, today's are the big headlines, like a fiery hearing between RFK Jr. and the Senate,
1:18.7	and a jobs report to remember what the latest BLS data could mean for the Federal Reserve's next decision.
1:25.5	We're now thinking about three cuts this year, 75 basis points, worst of cuts.
1:29.3	It's Friday, September 5th.
1:31.3	Squawk Pod begins right now.
	...

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