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SpaceX ties Elon Musk pay package to Mars colony and space data centres
A separate tranche of as many as 60.4 million restricted shares would vest if SpaceX achieves additional targets
SpaceX has tied a new compensation package for founder Elon Musk to some of its most ambitious long-term goals, including the colonisation of Mars and the development of space-based data centres.
According to Reuters, the pay plan, approved by SpaceX’s board in January, would grant Musk up to 200 million super-voting restricted shares if the company reaches a valuation of $7.5 trillion and establishes a permanent human settlement on Mars of at least one million people.
The document outlines a series of performance milestones that reflect SpaceX’s long-term vision of becoming a multi-planetary infrastructure company.
A separate tranche of as many as 60.4 million restricted shares would vest if SpaceX achieves additional targets, including operating orbital data centres capable of 100 terawatts of computing power—an energy scale equivalent to roughly 100,000 one-gigawatt nuclear reactors. These shares would also carry enhanced voting rights.
The package is fully performance-based, meaning Musk would receive no shares unless the company meets its valuation and operational goals.
SpaceX, which remains privately held, did not disclose an estimated value for the compensation plan.
Musk currently draws a nominal salary of $54,080 per year from SpaceX and holds significant equity through previously awarded stock options.
The company is reportedly targeting an initial public offering around June 28, which could value it at approximately $1.75 trillion.
The compensation structure highlights the scale of SpaceX’s ambitions as it expands beyond rocket launches into broader space infrastructure, while also underscoring potential governance tensions given Musk’s leadership roles across multiple high-value companies, including Tesla.
