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Elon Musk buys $1-billion Tesla shares after proposal of trillion-dollar salary
CEO Elon Musk has purchased Tesla shares after the EV maker proposed $1 trillion salary for him, provided he meets some strategic goals.
Elon Musk has purchased $1 billion worth of Tesla Inc. shares, days after the electric carmaker's board proposed a trillion-dollar salary for him.
Shares jumped 6% in early trading on Monday after Tesla's chief executive officer disclosed the purchase, in what can be seen as a vote of confidence for the company's future. He purchased 2.57 million shares on Friday, paying between $372.37 and $396.54 apiece, according to a regulatory filing.
The move is “the clearest signal yet that (Musk is) slamming the accelerator on being all in again…the Tesla-Musk narrative looks firmly back on track after a shaky start to the year,” Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told Reuters.
The stock purchase—Musk's first open-market transaction since early 2020—comes at a critical time for Tesla: the Model Y maker's market share in the US is at its lowest since 2017 even as the company looks to transform into an AI powerhouse. The move reinforces Musk's push for greater control over Tesla, and comes just over a week after the company's board proposed a $1 trillion salary for him. Musk has consistently demanded a bigger stake and increased voting power at Tesla, having previously said that he would prefer to build AI and robotics products outside of Tesla if he cannot get 25% voting power.
As of December 2025, Musk held a roughly 13% stake in Tesla.
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To be sure, Tesla's latest financials indicate continued margin pressures at the company, amid softening EV demand, increased costs and competition. Still, Tesla Chairman Robyn Denholm has dismissed concerns that Musk's political activity had hurt sales, adding that he was back “front and center” at the company after several months at the White House.
