Elon Musk Can Make Over $750 Million in Profit from Tesla’s Stock Surge

Yesterday, Tesla’s stock surged nearly 10% to close at $798.75 per share ahead of the company’s quarterly report this week, which has put the electric car maker’s market capitalization at $145 billion. According to Reuters, CEO Elon Musk is now in a position to make nearly $758 million in profit by selling his vested Tesla shares.

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Musk, who has already hit a growth target necessary for the first options to vest, receives no salary or cash bonus, only options that vest based on Tesla’s market cap and milestones for revenue and profit growth. 

The report notes that a full payoff for Musk, who is also the majority owner and CEO of the SpaceX rocket maker, would surpass anything previously granted to U.S. executives.

Monday’s rally put Tesla’s market capitalization at $145 billion. Importantly for Musk, its stock market value reached a six-month average of $96 billion. Hitting a six-month average of $100 billion would trigger the vesting of the first of 12 tranches of options granted to the billionaire to buy Tesla stock as part of his two-year-old pay package.

Each tranche gives Musk the option to buy 1.69 million Tesla shares at $350.02 each. Taking Monday’s Tesla closing stock price of $798.75 as an example, Musk could sell those shares for a profit of $758 million.

With Tesla set to report its Q1 earnings after the bell tomorrow, analysts are expecting March quarter revenue to jump 30% to $5.9 billion.

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