Tesla CEO Elon Musk just got a pay raise — and now, he’s on pace to out-earn all elementary school teachers in the U.S. combined, a new report reveals.
Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk earlier this month. The raise marks the largest corporate pay package in history, according to Reuters. The 54-year-old is the world’s wealthiest person, with an estimated net worth of more than $466 billion as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Forbes.
While Musk could earn $1 trillion from stock over the next decade under the package, some required payments could bring the total value down to $878 billion, Reuters reports.
If Musk earns $1 trillion over the next decade, he could earn an average of $100 billion each year. At that rate, the world’s richest man could make $3 billion more each year than all 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the nation combined, according to a new data analysis project by The Washington Post.
Teaching isn’t the only essential profession Musk is set to out-earn, according to the outlet’s analysis. Each year, Musk will earn $72 billion more than all 107,950 family medicine physicians in the U.S. Musk will also out-earn all 1,057,660 construction laborers by about $46 billion.
The world’s richest man isn’t on track to beat every profession, according to the Post’s analysis. Musk’s average yearly payment roughly equals the combined paychecks of all 3.2 million cashiers in the U.S.
America’s 747,750 lawyers are also set to out-earn Musk, with his average annual payment coming in at three-quarters of their combined earnings.
Over 75 percent of Tesla shareholders backed Musk’s new payment package, according to company officials. News of the approval sent cheers through the audience of investors at the annual shareholders meeting in Austin, Texas, earlier this month.
“I’d like to thank the Tesla board for their immense support,” Musk told the crowd. “We have a fantastic board, a fantastic group of shareholders…What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter in the future of Tesla but a whole new book.”
In addition to Tesla, Musk owns several other tech companies, including the aerospace firm SpaceX, the social media site X and the neurotechnology company Neuralink. Musk was also once close with President Donald Trump and led the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency for several months earlier this year.
While Trump and Musk had an explosive and public fall-out over the summer, their feud appears to have calmed since.
“It’s good with him. I like Elon, I’ve always liked Elon. It’s good,” Trump said of Musk last month. “On and off, a little bit, very little. Look, he’s a nice guy and he’s a very capable guy. I’ve always liked him.”
