Musk's pay package: obscene or fair?
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tesla shareholders have approved a pay package that could make Elon Musk the world's first dollar trillionaire. We discuss whether that’s an obscene sum or a fair reward for success.
Also in the programme: as world leaders meet ahead of the UN climate conference in Brazil, we ask a supporter of Donald Trump why the US president isn't there and why Mr Trump now says climate change is all a hoax; and the challenge of writing a piece of music to mark 80 years of Britain's Jodrell Bank Observatory.
(IMAGE: Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a memorial service for slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., September 21, 2025 / CREDIT: Reuters/Daniel Cole)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.1 | Hello and welcome to NewsAv from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.0 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:13.6 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:14.9 | And we're going to begin today with what may turn out to be a milestone in global capitalism, |
| 0:19.8 | the world's first dollar trillionaire. |
| 0:22.9 | And just to be clear, that is a thousand billion dollars or a million million dollars, |
| 0:28.2 | a genuinely eye-watering sum, in the hands of a single person. |
| 0:32.6 | And it is, of course, the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, already the world's richest man, |
| 0:39.4 | who's worth an estimated half a trillion, |
| 0:46.0 | thanks to his investments in the electric car company and also SpaceX, the social media side X, Stalin and so on. |
| 0:50.6 | And despite his ill-fated dalliance with the Trump administration. |
| 0:54.9 | Well, in a moment we'll be discussing whether he or indeed anyone is worth a trillion dollars. What that says about tech valuations right now and what it says about the state of |
| 1:00.1 | capitalism in 2025. But first, here's how it all unfolded at Tesla's annual meeting of shareholders |
| 1:07.0 | in Texas. On the 2025 CEO performance award to our founder and CEO Elon Musk, with over 75% voting in favor, |
| 1:20.1 | approved. |
| 1:25.6 | Elon, Elon, Elon, they're chanting there. |
| 1:30.0 | Well, to celebrate Elon Musk got up on stage to dance alongside two of his |
| 1:33.8 | Optimus robots. |
| 1:44.0 | I'm those bots are just dancing. They have no wires. Those are actual robots. |
| 1:52.5 | Susanna Street is a money, a market's expert here in London. Susanna, good to have you with us here on the program. |
| 1:58.1 | What does he have to do to unlock this vast pay award then? |
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