Not to defend Musk, but the payout would be in stock options, so it wouldn’t really cost Tesla any cash. But that volume of new shares would probably devaluate other shareholders’ portfolio even faster that Musk’s erratic leadership already has in the last couple years.

Besides, NO ONE deserves this kind of money. Ever. This level of payout shouldn’t be normalized. I mean the guy doesn’t even work full time for that company !