Musk's Stock Option Gains Last Year Total 25.6 Trillion Won... Annual Salary Is 0 Won

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, reportedly earned 25.6 trillion KRW last year through stock option compensation.

On the 15th (local time), according to CNN and other outlets, Tesla submitted Musk's 2020 salary statement containing this information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Applying the minimum wage standards of California, where Tesla's headquarters are located, Musk's annual salary was set at $56,380 (approximately 66 million KRW) in 2018 and $23,760 (approximately 28 million KRW) in 2019. For this year, his salary was recorded as zero.

When Musk signed the compensation agreement with Tesla in 2018, he declared that he would not receive a salary or bonuses. Accordingly, he returned his 2018 and 2019 salaries to the company.

Instead, Musk made a stock option compensation agreement with Tesla, allowing him to purchase Tesla shares at $70.01 per share based on achieving Tesla's stock price and performance targets. Last year, as Tesla's stock price rose by 743%, Musk met the compensation criteria and acquired the right to exercise stock options for 33.8 million shares.

CNN and others estimated that the valuation gain of the stock options Musk secured last year could reach $21.874 billion (25.57 trillion KRW) based on the closing price of $717.17 on the last trading day, the 13th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.