马斯克立下军令状，特斯拉市值不达目标放弃报酬

伊隆·马斯克已然以他雄心勃勃的豪赌而闻名于世，而如今这位特斯拉的首席执行官将他自己的净资产作为赌注。特斯拉于周二宣布，未来10年内马斯克将不领薪水——没有工资、奖金和股权——除非这家电动汽车公司市值接近翻倍

在为马斯克表面上的无私喝彩之前，值得一提的是，这位2004年起担任公司董事长，2008年起担任公司首席执行官的人，自进入特斯拉以来就从未领过工资，即使如此，他依然过得很好。确实，身家估计有215亿美元的马斯克将会在2018年及之后的十年里再次拒绝5.6万美元的年薪，这也是加利福尼亚州规定的最低工资。

而按照新的薪酬计划，马斯克会富有得多——特斯拉的股东也是如此。

想要获取之后的任何报酬，马斯克必须要让特斯拉如今590亿美元的市值增加到1,000亿美元，并让收入或调整后利润（即未计利息、税项、折旧及摊销前的利润，也就是所谓的EBITDA）提高至少70%。如此就能达到十二级报酬中第一级的领取条件，马斯克可以获得价值10亿美元的优先认股权。

而马斯克还有机会获得比这多得多的收入。按照公司协议，如果特斯拉的市值在2028年以前达到6,500亿美元（现在的11倍）——或是其他财务指标达到现在的15至21倍——马斯克就可以获得全部十二级报酬提供的认股权，这会让他的资产净值增加558亿美元。

马斯克真正的回报甚至还会更多。毕竟，这位首席执行官也是特斯拉最大的股东。如果他实现了全部十二级业绩目标，根据公司计算，他将拥有公司28.3%的股权。届时在这家6,500亿美元市值的公司中，马斯克的股权就能给他带来1,840亿美元的净资产，这可能会让他成为全球首富。（尽管由于股权稀释的情况，例如给员工发放股份，马斯克的持股比例最后不太可能有这么高，但他目前的持股规模也足以让他成为当世最富有的人。）

目前，全球最富有的人是亚马逊的首席执行官杰夫·贝佐斯，他在亚马逊价值1,080亿美元的股票占据了他个人净资产的很大一部分。马斯克股票期权奖励的最大值，会让他的净资产超过贝佐斯，这甚至还没有考虑他拥有的另一家公司SpaceX。（当然，如果亚马逊的估价在这段时间内增长了至少71%，同样放弃传统工资的贝佐斯很可能可以保住他全球首富的头衔。）

尽管金钱是强大的激励，但目前还不清楚递增奖项在多大程度上提高了马斯克在特斯拉的表现。尽管2012年达成的上一份协议中，约定获得满额报酬需要达成的十项指标，马斯克已经完成了九项，但他还没有执行任何股票期权。在他目前持有的全部特斯拉股份中（约3,360万股），大部分都是在特斯拉2010年上市前获得的。

原有的薪酬计划鼓励马斯克达成比过去更多种类的不同目标。批评者担心这将以其他的业绩作为代价。2012年以来，马斯克的股权奖励条件不仅要求特斯拉达到特定的市值门槛（目前已经全部达成），还要求公司达成十项运营目标，包括推出第一批Model X和Model 3车型，生产汽车数达到30万等。

相比之下，新的薪酬计划鼓励马斯克重点提高销售额、利润和特斯拉的股价，不要求他负责生产指标。这也让他从许多难以捉摸的指标中解脱出来——例如，2012年的协议中，马斯克唯一未能克服的明显障碍是：要求特斯拉连续四个季度至少实现30%的毛利率。特斯拉的毛利率上一次这么高还是在2012年第一季度。

当然，特斯拉之前多次证明了怀疑论者的错误——过去五年里，公司股价上涨了超过1,030%，让看衰的投资者和买空型投资者预测落空，为了让生产保持正轨，马斯克甚至睡在工厂。如果马斯克可以处理好特斯拉这次最新的挑战，他就能跻身沃伦·巴菲特、比尔·盖茨等全球最富有的亿万富翁的行列。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正 

Elon Musk is already known for his ambitious bets, but the Tesla CEO is now gambling with his own net worth: Tesla announced Tuesday that it would pay Musk nothing for the next 10 years—no salary, bonus, or stock—unless the electric car company nearly doubles in value.

Before lauding Musk for his apparent selflessness, though, it’s worth noting that the billionaire, who has served as Tesla’s chairman since 2004 and as its CEO since 2008, has been getting along just fine despite never receiving a salary as long as he has been with the company. Indeed Musk, worth an estimated $21.5 billion, will once again refuse his annual paycheck of $56,000—California minimum wage—in 2018 and the decade thereafter.

Under the new payment plan, however, Musk could actually become much, much richer—and so could Tesla (TSLA, +0.12%) stockholders.

To earn any compensation going forward, Musk must grow Tesla, whose current market capitalization is about $59 billion, to $100 billion in market cap, and also increase its revenues or adjusted earnings (before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a.k.a. EBITDA) by at least 70%. That would satisfy the first milestone of the 12-level compensation ladder, allowing Musk to collect stock options worth an additional $1 billion.

But Musk also has the opportunity to collect a significantly bigger windfall. If Tesla’s market value reaches $650 billion (an 11-fold increase) by 2028—and if the other financial measures multiply between 15 and 21 times—Musk can keep all dozen tranches of stock options, netting him an additional $55.8 billion, according to the company.

Musk’s real reward would be even greater. After all, the CEO is also Tesla’s largest shareholder, and if he hits all 12 performance milestones, the company calculates Musk would own as much as 28.3% of Tesla. With that large a stake of a $650 billion company, Musk’s net worth would surge to $184 billion in Tesla stock alone—potentially making him the richest person in the world. (Although Musk’s stake is unlikely to end up that large due to dilutive events, such as stock issuance to employees, the size of his current Tesla holdings would be enough to make him the richest person alive today.)

The world’s wealthiest person is currently Amazon (AMZN, +2.69%) CEO Jeff Bezos, whose $108 billion worth of Amazon stock makes up the lion’s share of his net worth. Musk’s maximum stock option award would boost his net worth—even before factoring in his ownership in his other company SpaceX—above that of Bezos. (Of course, if Amazon stock rises at least 71% in the meantime, Bezos, who also foregoes a traditional salary, would likely maintain his title atop the world’s rich list.)

While money is a powerful incentive, it’s not clear how much the incremental awards have driven Musk’s performance at Tesla. Besides forfeiting a salary, Musk also has yet to exercise any of the stock options he has collected as part of his previous compensation agreement from 2012, despite having achieved nine out of 10 milestones required to to receive the maximum amount. Of the Tesla stock he currently owns (some 33.6 million shares), Musk acquired the vast majority of it before Tesla even went public in 2010.

The new compensation scheme also incentivizes Musk to hit different types of targets than he has in the past, which critics worry will come at the expense of other achievements. Since 2012, Musk’s stock awards have depended not only upon Tesla reaching certain market valuation thresholds (all of which it has fulfilled), but upon accomplishing 10 operational goals, including rolling out its first Model X and Model 3 cars, and also producing its 300,000th vehicle.

By contrast, the new pay plan encourages Musk to focus on increasing sales, profits and the Tesla stock price without holding him accountable to meeting production quotas. It also untethers him from certain milestones that have remained stubbornly elusive—for example, the only outstanding hurdle from the 2012 agreement which Musk has failed to meet: The requirement that Tesla maintain a gross margin of at least 30% for four consecutive quarters. The last time Tesla’s gross margin was that high was the first quarter of 2012.

Of course, Musk has proven skeptics wrong multiple times before—defying bearish investors and short-sellers to achieve a more than 1,030% in Tesla stock over the past five years, and going so far as to sleep at the factory to keep production on track. If Musk can rise to this latest challenge at Tesla, he’ll also earn his place among Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and the other wealthiest billionaires on the planet.