Tesla stock surge may lead to $1.7B payday for Elon Musk

Tesla’s supercharged stock rally has put a $1.7 billion payday within arm’s reach for Chief Executive Elon Musk.

Shares of the electric automaker have soared 40 percent in the past week, and with a market cap of $253 billion, Tesla blew past Toyota as the world’s valuable car company.

More important for Musk, however, is that Tesla’s six-month stock average is now at $138 billion. When the average reaches $150 billion, Musk will trigger the second tranche in his eye-popping $50 billion pay package.

His first stock award vested in May when Tesla’s six-month average hit $100 billion, allowing him to buy 1.69 million shares at $350 a pop. At the time, flipping those shares would have landed Musk a profit of roughly $775 million.

The Tesla boss will be able to purchase another 1.69 million shares when the board certifies that he has unlocked the second tranche. At Tesla’s current stock price of $1,365.88, Musk would be able to flip the shares for a profit of $1.7 billion per tranche. The two tranches combined would net Musk $3.4 billion in profit.

To earn his full, $50 billion award, Musk would have to lead Tesla to a market cap of $650 billion by 2028. Tesla’s board signed off on the compensation package in March 2018, when the market cap was $52.46 billion.

Musk’s net worth is $54 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 19th richest person in the world.

With Post wires