• Elon Musk's new compensation at SpaceX is tied to achieving a $7.5 trillion valuation, a Mars colony with one million people, and space-based data centers.
  • Musk currently earns only a minimal salary and would receive nothing unless these targets are met.
  • The plan could create tension with Tesla, as both companies compete for Musk's attention.

SpaceX’s board has approved an unprecedented compensation plan for Elon Musk that ties his potential pay to ultra-ambitious space-based goals, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan would award Musk massive share grants if the company hits a $7.5 trillion valuation, establishes a permanent human presence on Mars with one million colonists, and operates significant computing capacity in orbit.

Musk currently receives only a minimal salary and would earn nothing unless these targets are met, the people said. The plan is highly unusual for its scope and its direct linkage of executive compensation to long-term, multi-planetary ambitions. The details surfaced in confidential filings reviewed by Reuters.

“It’s an extraordinary structure,” said a corporate governance expert who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Most CEOs have performance metrics tied to earnings or stock price. This is effectively a bet on the future of civilization.”

SpaceX, the private aerospace and satellite company, has long been central to Musk’s vision of making life multi-planetary. The new pay plan formalizes those ambitions into a compensation framework. Under the plan, Musk would receive tranches of shares as SpaceX reaches specific milestones related to Starship development, launch cadence, and the economics of space-based data centers.

The plan may create tension with Tesla, where Musk also serves as CEO. Tesla shareholders have previously raised concerns about Musk’s divided attention, and the new SpaceX incentives could amplify those worries. Tesla’s own compensation plan, approved in 2018, was recently voided by a Delaware judge, leading to a new shareholder vote.

SpaceX declined to comment. Attempts to reach Musk were unsuccessful.

If the milestones are met, the valuation would dwarf any current public company. For context, Apple is valued at around $3 trillion. The plan reflects a broader trend toward mission-driven equity incentives in frontier industries, where founders tie their wealth to long-horizon mega-projects.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the valuation target. The correct figure is $7.5 trillion.