Elon Musk, who is on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, revealed how much he earns as Tesla’s CEO.
The entrepreneur made the revelation on his X profile (formerly Twitter), in response to an article from The Wall Street Journal that said, “Elon Musk was the lowest-paid CEO of an S&P 500 company last year. Tesla paid him $0.”
He quoted a screenshot from the article revealing he has earned “zero” dollars for “seven years” and yet has been able to increase Tesla’s market value by over 2000% during that period.
Zero for seven years, despite increasing the value of the company >2000% https://t.co/QNNHxpi3T2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2025
While some praised Musk’s approach, others analyzed it more critically. “Anyone who understands the tax system knows that the reasons you’re not being paid have nothing to do with morality and everything to do with financial prudence,” said one.
“But it’s not like the extra salary makes any financial difference to you. Must be great to work for free. I could also solve problems and build cool stuff if my parents gave me millions to start,” teased another.
“All this would be a bit more [impressive] and generate more sympathy if you weren’t the richest man in the world, with a net worth of over $330 billion,” stated a third user.
Photo and video: Creative Commons / X @elonmusk. This content was created with AI assistance and reviewed by the editorial team.
