Elon Musk’s Option Haul Swells To $8.5 Billion With Third Payout

Tesla Inc.’s stock setback this week wasn’t enough to hinder Elon Musk’s improbable payouts, now amounting to a staggering $8.8 billion. On Friday, Musk cleared the final threshold for a third tranche of his moonshot award, pegged to Tesla’s financial and market value. A Friday afternoon rally in the automaker’s stock price ended a three-day rout that saw the company’s market capitalization drop by almost $90 billion from its all-time high on Monday. The latest sum, which is roughly worth $2.9 billion after accounting for the cost of exercising the options, is more reminiscent of the hauls collected by hedge fund managers in rare blowout years than the $15-million-a-year packages awarded to the typical S&P 500 chief executive officer. Its market value stands at more than $380 billion, far above that of its global rivals, despite producing far fewer vehicles. His latest tranche was unlocked after Tesla’s 6-month and 30-day average trailing market value both exceeded $200 billion. Another performance goal – logging a combined $3 billion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization topping $3 billion over four quarters – was achieved as of June 30, a filing shows.