Elon Musk’s Shockingly Tiny Salary Revealed Ahead of Historic SpaceX IPO

SpaceX board of directors has approved a performance-based compensation plan for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk that keeps his salary fixed at $54,000 per year, unless the company achieves its long-term goal of building a permanent human settlement on Mars.

Both Musk and his pet company are preparing for what is expected to be one of the largest initial public offerings in modern world history.

But under the board’s newly approved plan, Musk’s potential equity rewards will depend entirely on SpaceX achieving supernatural technological and financial milestones rather than traditional performance targets.

According to details of the package, Musk will be granted 200 million super-voting shares only if SpaceX reaches a valuation of $7.5 trillion and successfully establishes a permanent human colony on Mars with a population of at least one million people.

The compensation framework also includes an additional 60.4 million shares tied to separate performance goals.

These include achieving specific valuation thresholds and operating large-scale data centers in space capable of delivering 100 terawatts of computing power, a concept linked to future space-based artificial intelligence and infrastructure ambitions.

The agreement carries a strict condition: Musk will receive no equity compensation if the company fails to meet these objectives.

Since 2019, Musk has drawn an annual salary of just $54,080 from SpaceX, relying primarily on equity incentives rather than cash compensation. According to Forbes’ April 2026 update, Musk is worth around $817 billion.

The newly structured package isn’t based on reflecting Musk’s position at SpaceX but, in fact shows the company’s long-term vision of transforming from a launch provider into a space infrastructure company focused on interplanetary travel, orbital computing, and large-scale human settlement beyond Earth.