02 June 2025 (Punjab Khabarnama Bureau): Elon Musk was the lowest-paid chief executive of an S&P 500 company last year. Tesla paid him $0.
It has been that way for several years amid a legal battle over a monster stock award in 2018. A court has twice thrown out Musk’s pay package—calling the process of creating it flawed despite two votes of support from shareholders.
Even for other individuals in lofty positions, pay can vary wildly: President Trump makes $400,000 a year (plus a $50,000 tax-free expense allowance). The president of Harvard gets more than $1 million. Baseball’s Juan Soto could make as much as $800 million over 15 years under his late-2024 contract with the New York Mets.
Option 1: Make him show up and go big
Option 2: Pay him like a CEO
Option 3: Pay him like everyone else
Summary: Elon Musk earned no salary from Tesla last year amid legal disputes over his pay, highlighting vast CEO compensation differences across sectors.