$30 billion? That’s a lot of cheddar (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Tesla board approves nearly $30 billion Musk stock award, says “retaining Elon is more important than ever”

Analyst Dan Ives thinks the 96 million new shares will be enough to hold on to Musk through 2030.

8/4/25 9:19AM

Tesla shareholders and stakeholders pin a lot of value on having Elon Musk as CEO, and they showed just how much on Monday morning.

Tesla’s board approved an “interim” stock award of 96 million shares for Musk, valued at nearly $30 billion at Tesla’s Friday closing price. He can claim it in two years if he remains at the company as CEO or an executive officer, and if he doesn’t win the appeal for his prior $56 billion pay package, which has been struck down twice.

Shareholders cheered the move, sending shares up 2.5% in premarket trading. So if you’re counting, the pay package has added about $23 billion in market cap to the company this morning.

In a note on X, two members of the Tesla board’s special committee wrote that “now is the right time to take decisive action to recognize the extraordinary value that Elon created for Tesla shareholders” and that retaining Musk is “more important than ever.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives is happy and thinks it will help retain Tesla’s “big asset.”

“We believe this grant will now keep Musk as CEO of Tesla at least until 2030 and removes an overhang on the stock,” Ives wrote this morning. Still, he added, the board will need a long-term compensation strategy ahead of the company’s November shareholder meeting.

Max Knoblauch11h

Netflix is hiking its prices again

Netflix is raising its subscription prices for the fourth time in four years, a move first spotted by Android Authority.

Per Netflix’s US pricing page, the cost of an ad-supported plan is climbing $1 to $8.99 per month, while the cost of a standard ad-free plan is going up $2 to $19.99 per month. The premium tier has also risen $2 to $26.99 per month.

The streamer last raised its subscription costs more than a year ago in January 2025. It also hiked prices in 2023, 2022, 2020, and 2019. Netflix shares climbed about 2% on the news.

“Our approach remains the same: we continue offering a range of prices and plans to meet a variety of needs, and as we deliver more value to our members we are updating our prices to enable us to reinvest in quality entertainment and improve their experience by updating our prices,” said a Netflix spokesperson, in a statement to Sherwood News.

Netflix is hiking your prices yet again: Standard, premium, and ad-supported all going up

The streamer last raised its subscription costs more than a year ago in January 2025. It also hiked prices in 2023, 2022, 2020, and 2019. Netflix shares climbed about 2% on the news.

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How record wait times at US airports are sending one app soaring

Demand for Clear Secure services are surging as travelers look to bypass TSA lines.

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Apple says it’s bringing ads to its Maps app this summer

That could be another boon for its fast-growing, high-margin Services division.

Target Opens "Target SoHo" - A Design-Forward Shoppable Concept Store In SoHo, New York

As Target alters its dress code, it also wants staff to buy more of its clothes

The retailer’s apparel and accessories sales hit their lowest point since the pandemic last year.

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Sony and Honda are scrapping Afeela, their joint EV that you could play PlayStation in

Less than two weeks after Honda said it would take an up to $15.7 billion write-down as it restructures its EV business, the automaker is scrapping an electric vehicle made in a joint venture with Sony.

The Afeela 1, a $90,000 EV with PlayStation 5 integration, was set to begin deliveries later this year.

A nearly six-figure EV that you could play “The Last of Us” in doesn’t exactly sound like a bestseller in the current electric vehicle landscape, but the announcement is still surprising given how far along the joint venture was. The JV had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of its delivery hub in California on March 21. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the JV teased a crossover SUV prototype as a second model.

In Honda’s EV write-down announcement earlier this month, the automaker canceled three models planned for production in the US.

Sony-Honda JV Abruptly Scraps Afeela EVs After Honda's $15.7 Billion Writedown | EV