It wasn’t that long ago that Tesla’s share prices tumbled to their lowest point in years. Now, on the back of the Cybertruck reveal, strong delivery figures to close out 2019, the company’s Shanghai gigafactory coming online, and the other models set to fill out its product stack in the coming year, Tesla has been going from strength to strength with its market cap. As of today (January 22, 2020), Tesla’s valuation stands at an astonishing $102.18 billion. As of Wednesday afternoon, its stock is trading at $567 per share, well past the $420 goal it hit just last month.
The company’s value exploded past Volkswagen, which currently sits at around $100 billion. It’s now the most valuable U.S. automaker by a huge margin, and the world’s second-most valuable automaker, behind Toyota (currently valued at $232 billion).
Huge payday for Musk? Definitely
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s pay package came into sharp focus among reporters and industry analysts. He tweeted in December that much of his net worth is tied up in his companies. In other words, he receives no direct compensation from Tesla or SpaceX, for that matter.
He also suggested edits to his Wikipedia page, as seen below:
Instead of a salary or time-based equity plan, Musk’s compensation is tied to ambitious stock option milestones, where he sees greater benefit as the company rapidly increases in value. For each $50 billion the market capitalization continues to increase, Musk will receive 1.69 million shares. At today’s prices, that amounts to nearly $1 billion added to his net worth.
As Electrek pointed out in covering this news, Musk is in for an enormous payday if the company continues to surge through all its goals. For instance, if the market cap hits $650 billion, he would own roughly 30 percent of the company. That would put his stake at $195 billion, making Musk the richest man in the world at that point.
Some analysts were skeptical the company could even reach $100 billion in the first place. However, reports as recent as last week said that milestone was well within reach. Now that Tesla has surpassed that goal, it’s not a stretch to imagine the stock could rally even further. Perhaps, it could move past $150 billion in a relatively short time frame. Tesla will provide updates on the situation during its earnings call next week, so we’ll have to see how the market reacts to that news.
Stay tuned for more updates!
