VOA慢速英语2024--Tesla Chief Elon Musk Could Still Be Paid Billions of Dollars

Tesla Chief Elon Musk¹ Could Still Be Paid Billions of Dollars

Tesla shareholders³ recently voted by a large majority to approve company chief Elon Musk’s 10-year pay plan.

The plan, valued by the company in April at $44.9 billion, was even more valuable earlier in the year. However, Tesla’s stock price has fallen about 25 percent since then.

The board and shareholders first approved the plan, which gives Musk special shares of stock, in 2018. It aimed to reward Musk for reaching goals that include raising Tesla’s market value, pretax income and revenue.

But in January, a Delaware judge halted the plan. She said the process for approving it was “deeply flawed.” The court ruled that Musk controlled the company’s board and that shareholders were not fully⁴ informed.

But the company said Musk should get the pay because he turned Tesla into the top-selling electric vehicle maker⁵ in the world, increasing its market value by billions of dollars.

Even with the re-approval vote, Musk will not get the stock plan just yet. Tesla is expected to ask the judge to reconsider her decision.

If the judge does not revisit the decision, the company probably will appeal the ruling to Delaware’s Supreme⁶ Court. The process could take months.

Musk’s pay plan is the largest to a company chief of a U.S. public company. It is far above what has been given to other chief executives.

Here is how the package compares:

Median CEO pay

The Associated Press partnered with Equilar, a company that researches pay for business chiefs, to study pay for CEOs, or chief executive officers.

The study found that the median pay package for an S&P 500 CEO in the U.S. last year was $16.3 million. If you multiply that by 10 to get $163 million for 10 years of work, Musk’s earnings⁷ would be 275 times greater.

In her January ruling that struck down the package, Delaware Chancellor⁸ Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick wrote that Musk’s package, then worth about $56 billion, was 250 times larger than the median peer CEO’s pay plan.

Individual CEOs

The top earner in the AP’s study was Hock Tan, CEO of artificial intelligence company Broadcom Inc. His package, mostly consisting of stock awards, was valued at about $162 million, when given to Tan in 2023. Because the company’s stock rose in value, Broadcom in March valued the CEO's pay package, including earlier awards, at $767.7 million.

That amount is much smaller than Musk’s possible pay package of 304 million shares worth almost $45 billion.

Other CEOs identified by AP to have high pay include William Lansing of Fair Isaac Corp. and Tim Cook of Apple.

Tesla workers

Tesla says it did not pay Musk anything last year. But if courts permit his pay deal, Musk’s pay in company stock will be in the billions.

Company documents from this year say the median yearly pay of Tesla employees not including the chief last year was $45,811.

I’m Caty Weaver⁹.

Tom Krisher reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Words in The Story

shareholder² – n. someone who owns shares or stock in a company or business

income – n. money that is earned from work or business

flawed – adj. having a mistake or weakness

median -- n. in the middle

package –n. a deal or agreement, often involving pay, that includes several different elements

S&P 500 – n. Standard & Poor's 500 Index; a group of 500 of the largest U.S. companies

peer – n. a person who belongs to the same group as someone else

1 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

2 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

3 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

8 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

9 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。