Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) has slammed Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk amid criticism of the latter's trillion-dollar CEO compensation package, which received approval from Tesla shareholders earlier this month.
More Money Than U.S. Elementary School Teachers Combined
On Wednesday, citing a report by the Washington Post, More Perfect Union, which describes itself as a non-profit newsroom, shared in a post on the social media platform X that the Tesla CEO was going to "make more than every U.S. elementary school teacher combined."
The report claims that if Musk makes $1 trillion over the next decade, he would make $100 billion annually, over $3 billion more than the combined income of 1.4 million U.S. elementary school teachers.
The pay package includes 12 tranches for Musk tied to certain milestones that Tesla has to achieve for Musk to be paid. However, even if Tesla does not achieve all of the set targets, Musk could still earn billions of dollars from some of the "easier" milestones.
Teresa Leger Fernandez Slams Musk
Quoting the post, Fernandez shared her thoughts on the claims. "Any school teacher has more work ethic in their pinky finger than Elon Musk has in his entire body," she said in the post, adding that billionaires should be made to pay their fair share of taxes.
Elon Musk Responds To More Perfect Union
Responding to the post by More Perfect Union, Musk shared his thoughts on the claim. "I have earned none of that so far," Musk said in his response, adding that people who are sure of Tesla becoming the "most valuable company on Earth" were welcome to invest in the company.
Elon Musk's Pay Package Receives Criticism And Support
The package has been on the receiving end of criticism from various entities. Recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized the package, outlining the wealth disparity between billionaires and average Americans.
The lawmaker had also slammed the tech companies pushing towards developing AI and Robotics technology, warning that the companies were working towards replacing average workers.
Proxy advisors like Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, whom Musk had called "corporate terrorists", as well as the automaker's major investors, including Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund NBIM and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), also raised questions about the pay package in the runup to the vote.
However, the package also received support from investors like ARK Invest's Cathie Wood, as well as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called Musk "one of the great entrepreneurs" in this generation.
Elon Musk Vs Billie Eilish, Tesla's Nvidia Moment
The comments follow as Musk recently faced off against singer Billie Eilish, saying that the Grammy-winning artist was "not the sharpest tool in the shed" in a post on the social media platform X.
Musk's response came as Eilish had criticized the Tesla CEO's pay package in a series of updates on her Instagram stories. She had also previously urged billionaires to donate to various causes currently plaguing society.
Meanwhile, Musk also shared that Tesla could have its own Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) moment when the company can operate Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology at scale.
Tesla scores well on Momentum and Quality metrics, while offering satisfactory Growth, but poor Value. Tesla also has a favourable price trend in the Medium and Long term. For more such insights, sign up for Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings today!
Price Action: TSLA surged 0.68% to $403.99 at market close, and surged 1.61% to $410.50 during after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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