Guy should slow it down with the withdrawals from Homie Equity Line Of Credit, Tesla is getting stampeded by the more established manufacturers left and right and I don't really see what he should be compensated for, apart from apparently trying to use the company as his personal piggy bank.
In the last few years they've lost the budget EV market to Chinese manufacturers despite BYD cars burning down like candles in a forest fire, conservative German manufacturers like Daimler have caught up in regards to autonomous driving and are making further progress, products are stuck in development hell etc. etc.
It's a really valid point to raise – what exactly has he done lately to deserve the payout? The situation in 2018 was a bit different, but the amount would've been well on the outrageous side even back when the stock was rocketing and the recent controversies weren't all yet a thing.
It makes you wonder why he needs the payout. I just listened to a podcast about Michael Jackson (Timesuck if you're curious, highly recommend it) and he talked about how Jackson was in massive debt by the end and was prepping for a tour to make money to pay back his debts right before he died. The host pointed out it doesn't matter how rich you are, you can always overspend.
Obviously, at billionaire level the debt isn't going to be with luxuries and goods. Could it be debt to other billionaires or countries made under the table? He's shown in recent years that he's not the business genius he tried to pretend he was, so it wouldn't be that far fetched.
And technically he took on a bunch of loans and IOUs with people like the Saudis to make that happen. So I'm sure he's a bit concerned about liquidity and paying those people back.
If anything, he should be paying around that amount into the company as a penalty for his red team bullshit and terrible political optics. Driving a Tesla is now synonymous with supporting Trump in the minds of most. This is the dumbest possible move against the market demographic of intelligent self aware people willing to make better environmental choices. The big moves to Texas and away from California with many of his other endeavors furthers the issue of screwing over the public. His anti Union politics and war against fundamental decency shows Musk is playing a big part it what is wrong with present society. He is the poster child for a neo feudal oligarchy now. I wouldn't even consider a Tesla now. Plus, no one owns a Tesla because of all the DRM theft and control. That is becoming more relevant with time. The cars have no long term value in a second hand market like ICE vehicles of the past.