$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 8:19AM

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.

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As streaming prices climb, ad-free subscribers are becoming a rarity.

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BLOOD

MONEY

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Discount stores are having a moment in America, drawing high- and low-income consumers alike

Everyone loves a deal in 2025 — and Aldi, Walmart, and Dollar Tree are all cashing in.

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Report: OpenAI won’t pay a dime in cash for its 3-year licensing deal for Disney IP

More financial details behind the landmark deal that will grant OpenAI three years of access to Disney intellectual property are coming out, and they’re pretty surprising.

The deal will reportedly see OpenAI pay zero dollars in licensing fees, instead compensating Disney in stock warrants. It was previously reported that Disney would invest $1 billion into OpenAI as part of the agreement.

It’s very abnormal for Disney to grant anyone access to its massive IP library without a cash payment, and the entertainment juggernaut has been known to strike down even crocheted Etsy Yodas for infringing on its turf. In its fiscal year 2025, Disney booked more than $10 billion in revenue from licensing fees across merchandising, television, and theatrical distribution.

OpenAI Deal to License Disney Characters Is Entirely in Stock

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Ford says it will take $19.5 billion in charges in a massive EV write-down

The EV business has marked a long stretch of losing for Ford, and today the automaker announced it will take $19.5 billion in charges tied, for the most part, to its EV division.

Ford said it’s launching a battery energy storage business, leveraging battery plants in Kentucky and Michigan to “provide solutions for energy infrastructure and growing data center demand.”

According to Ford, the changes will drive Ford’s electrified division to profitability by 2029. The company will stop making its electric F-150, the Lightning, and instead shift to an “extended-range electric vehicle” that includes a gas-powered generator.

The Detroit automaker also raised its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes outlook to “about $7 billion” from a range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion.

Ford’s write-down is one of the largest taken by a company as legacy automakers scale back on EVs, giving EV-only automakers a market share boost.