Tesla Awards Elon Musk $23.7 Billion in Stock to Stay Focused

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

P.M. Edition for Aug. 4. Tesla’s board has approved an interim pay package for CEO Elon Musk to incentivize him as he is dividing his time between several companies, with plans for a longer-term pay strategy. WSJ special writer Theo Francis reports that Musk wouldn’t be the only chief executive to enter the exclusive club of gaining stock-based pay worth more than $1 billion in a single year. Plus, though President Trump only signed his tax-and-spending megabill into law last month, some companies are already starting to feel the impact by having more cash on hand. We hear from the Journal’s Heard on the Street columnist Jonathan Weil about what that means for companies, their investors and the federal deficit. And as consumer spending stagnates, Americans are on the hunt for a good deal. WSJ corporate news reporter Katherine Hamilton discusses how U.S. consumers are trying to save money, and how companies are responding. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Omada Health makes managing chronic conditions easier by supporting members between doctors' visits.
0:05.4	Members are paired with the health coach empowered by insights from smart devices and AI-powered tools.
0:10.6	Learn more at OmadaHealth.com.
0:12.9	Omada Health is proudly NASDAQ listed.
0:18.6	Tesla approves a stock reward for Elon Musk as an incentive for him to remain as CEO.
0:24.8	Plus, how big companies start benefiting from Trump's new federal tax law.
0:29.6	And are Americans back on the hunt for a good deal?
0:32.7	When you break out consumer sentiment, you do see that people on the lower end of the income spectrum
0:38.6	and in the middle income are feeling a little bit worse than wealthier folks who have more money
0:43.3	in the stock market.
0:44.5	It's Monday, August 4th.
0:46.4	I'm Alex O'Sillop for the Wall Street Journal.
0:48.9	This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move
0:53.6	the world today.
1:01.2	Within the rarefied air of CEOs of big U.S. companies, there's a new ultra-exclusive achievement,
1:08.2	the billion-dollar year, in which the boss holds stock-based pay
1:11.7	that grew in value by at least 10 figures in a single year. They show how today's CEO
1:17.3	pay packages can swell far beyond their original valuations. WSJ special writer Teo Francis
1:23.4	is here to tell us more. Teo, I actually want to start with Elon Musk. Tesla has granted Musk a new
1:30.0	interim stock award that is tentatively valued at more than $23 billion with the promise of more
1:35.6	this fall. This will materialize if the company doesn't win a case before the Delaware Supreme Court.
1:41.4	Tesla is appealing an earlier Delaware court decision in validating a 2018 pay
	...

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