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Elon Musk has confirmed the shocking Tesla salary he receives yearly as he is on course to become the world’s first trillionaire.
The richest man in the world heads up many different ventures including Tesla and SpaceX, and most recently found himself at the center of government as an unelected official.
However, with Musk announcing that he’s stepping down from his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus on his other businesses, he has also publicly shared how much he makes from his role as CEO of Tesla.
Taking to his own social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Musk reposted a screenshot from a Wall Street Journal article, which read: “Elon Musk was the lowest-paid chief executive of an S&P 500 company last year. Tesla paid him $0.”
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Zero for seven years, despite increasing the value of the company >2000% https://t.co/QNNHxpi3T2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2025
Musk added: “Zero for seven years, despite increasing the value of the company >2000%.”
This prompted a lot of people to reply in the comment section, with one user writing: “Anyone who understands the tax system knows the reasons you aren’t getting paid has zero to do with morals and everything to do with being financially prudent.”
Another said: “It’s not like the extra paycheck would make any difference for you financially though. It must be lovely being able to work for free. I too could solve problems and build cool shit if my parents gave me millions to start.”
And a third person added: “This would all hit a little harder and garner more sympathy if you weren’t the world’s richest man with a net worth of over $330,000,000,000.”
So, if the billionaire doesn’t take a paycheck from his role at Tesla, how does he manage to keep getting richer?
Despite his seemingly charitable endeavor when it comes to the EV manufacturing company, Musk isn’t strictly making nothing from Tesla.
Back in 2018, Musk made an agreement with the board that instead of a salary, he would receive a compensation plan that ties his personal earnings to Tesla’s valuation and revenue.
In fact, he’s making a fortune through his ownership of his various companies and his wealth is largely gained from the value of the shares he has in these businesses, in particular Tesla.
As of November 2020, approximately 75% of Musk’s wealth came from the stock he had in Tesla.
This fell to around 37% two years later in December 2022 after he sold almost $40 billion worth of shares.
