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On Thursday, 75% of Tesla shareholders voted to approve his proposed $1 trillion pay package as the company's CEO, contingent on a set of performance metrics he would need to meet over the next decade.
And based on the standing ovation and exuberant cheering Musk received at the shareholder meeting, Tesla superfans in attendance seemed to love it. READ MORE
In today’s tight labor market, companies are seeking competitive advantages to attract and retain top talent. In this Crain’s Quick Take, Mindi Johnson, an employee benefits attorney at Foster Swift, outlines how deferred compensation plans can be a strategic tool for motivating and rewarding highly compensated employees.
Johnson explains that traditional salary and benefits packages often fall short for key executives due to federal limits on qualified plans. Non-qualified deferred compensation plans help bridge that gap. “These types of programs can help a company accomplish its goals in retaining that ‘top hat’ group of management by providing an attractive compensation and benefits package,” she says. READ MORE
private market professionals eagerly await year-end bonuses, a top Wall Street compensation consultant warns against chasing the biggest annual payout. For the second consecutive year, secondaries fund managers will receive bonuses that are at least 10% higher than last year, while PE and VC bonuses will be mostly flat, according to new data from financial compensation consultant Johnson Associates. As
But, the stable career choice remains in the two primary asset classes, according to the firm's founder and managing director, Alan Johnson. READ MORE
In today's volatile markets, measuring corporate success demands a long view. The 10-year total shareholder return (TSR)—which includes stock price appreciation plus reinvested dividends—stands out as the premier indicator of sustained value creation. Strong long-term returns also reflect sustained customer support. Unlike shorter horizons like the 3-year TSR, it captures fundamental drivers such as return on invested capital (ROIC), earnings growth, and customer loyalty, while filtering out temporary noise.
It even signals survival risks: firms ignoring long-term TSR often face restructurings or decline. Below, I highlight insights from 11 key studies and cautionary tales from seven iconic companies that underwent major splits as a result of long-term underperformance. READ MORE
Given the persistent economic volatility, increasingly cloudy financial targets and continuously evolving employee expectations around transparency, many organizations are re-evaluating how they drive alignment and motivation. In this environment, short-term incentive (STI) plans should both encourage results and signal organizational priorities. READ MORE
Gig work is on the riseOpen in a new tab, and freelancers who contract for these tasks and projects can be a great talent outlet for specific skills while allowing organizations to rein in corporate compensation and benefit costs.
But independent contractors lack the safety net of benefits and a fixed salary, so they are especially vulnerable to inflation. READ MORE
The tech world is buzzing with news of companies switching to crypto payroll, and guess who's leading the charge? Yep, Gen Z. They're pushing companies to explore the idea of stablecoin salaries. Why? Well, to keep things stable and efficient in a market that's anything but. Let's take a closer look at this whole crypto payroll trend, what it brings to the table, and the hurdles that come along with it. READ MORE
In a world where traditional payroll systems struggle against economic uncertainty, cryptocurrency and stablecoins are emerging as game changers for businesses. As startups dive into the complexities of adopting crypto payroll, the role of advanced technologies like Chainlink becomes paramount. This article will delve into how crypto payroll is changing the salary landscape, the advantages of integrating digital assets, and the future of payroll in an ever-evolving financial climate. READ MORE
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk made an unusual plea at the end of the company's earnings call, urging shareholders to approve his new $1 trillion pay package and claiming, among other things, he wouldn't be comfortable building "a robot army" without control over it.
During the Q&A portion of the call with investors following the company's Q3 miss, Musk was asked about the present challenges in bringing the Optimus robot to market. READ MORE
Investor Cathie Wood, a longtime Tesla bull known for first investing in the company a decade ago at $13 per share, condemned the growing resistance to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s potential $1 trillion pay package. Over the weekend, the ARK Invest CEO suggested the financial system that’s enabling the pushback against it is the one with the problem, not the company that wants to make the world’s richest man richer by such a magnitude. READ MORE
With rising cost of living, inflation and tariff costs (along with struggling employment levels), is the middle class still capable of attaining the American dream?
To answer such a question, GOBankingRates united two separate studies — one that determined the middle-class income range in each state and one that determined the cost of the American dream on a state-by-state basis — into a single analysis. READ MORE
Anyone can write a ChatGPT prompt. But not everyone can write a good prompt. It took me months of experimentation for me to realize this.
So many professionals get hyped up about AI tools that they miss the point. Although generative AI has been shown to boost salaries by as much as 47% (AWS and Indeed research), it’s not the AI tool itself that will significantly improve your salary or revenue. It’s generative AI skills…what you do with it, how you prompt it. READ MORE
New research released this week on global compensation trends highlights the critical importance of thinking outside the box on the employee value proposition—especially in an environment being rapidly reshaped by artificial intelligence and macro forces like economic uncertainty.
The State of Global Compensation Report, from global payroll and HR firm Deel, produced in partnership with equity management platform Carta, aggregated data from Deel’s 300,000-plus worker contracts across more than 150 countries to identify emerging global compensation trends. READ MORE
Tesla’s proposed $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk is facing renewed scrutiny after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) urged investors to vote against it. The recommendation, issued Friday, adds pressure ahead of Tesla’s Nov. 6 shareholder meeting and intensifies debate over what could become the largest executive pay package in corporate history.
ISS cited the “astronomical” size and design of the stock-based award, which could still grant Musk tens of billions of dollars even if many of its ambitious goals are not fully met. The proposal includes milestones that would boost Tesla’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion and require the delivery of 20 million vehicles, one million robotaxis, and $400 billion in adjusted core earnings over the next decade. READ MORE
Americans are accepting lower salaries and settling for roles that fall below their level of experience, as concerns over a softening labor market prompt many to “hug” onto their current jobs.
According to a new survey by TopResume—titled “Overqualified and Undervalued”—70 percent of U.S. professionals are willing to drop down in seniority to ensure they keep their jobs. Additionally, 75 percent said they would take a pay cut in the interests of job security, with 34 percent willing to accept a salary reduction of 11 percent or more. READ MORE
For decades, stock awards have been the most sought-after perks in corporate America, offering the promise of wealth in exchange for loyalty. For employees, these packages often spark hope of striking it rich should their company stock take off. According to a recent Charles Schwab study, three-quarters of employees say equity pay is very important, and half see it as a must-have benefit when job hunting.1
But, according to financial planners and industry experts, relying too much on stock for pay can create risks that few workers fully understand. It may even leave you worse off than if you got cash instead. Sometimes, a cash bonus or robust retirement plan is the smarter option for building your nest egg. READ MORE
On October 8, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation that will set the statute of limitations for civil actions alleging violations of the state’s pay transparency requirements at three years, with a six-year “look-back” period to obtain relief for an existing violation. In addition, the legislation defines the “pay scale” that employers must disclose in job postings as a “good faith estimate” and expands the definition of “wages” to include all forms of compensation, including stocks and stock options. READ MORE
On Wednesday, the Delaware Supreme Court will hear the latest set of arguments in a yearslong legal drama over Tesla CEO Elon Musk's record-setting compensation package.
The pay package, worth tens of billions of dollars, was laid out back in 2018. It didn't give Musk a salary, but instead, promised him more and more Tesla shares the better the company did. The goals laid out for the highest awards — which called for Tesla's value to grow tenfold — seemed somewhere between audacious and utterly impossible at the time. Back then, the board told shareholders Musk could stand to gain $55.8 billion if he met all the goals. READ MORE
Data released in September 2024 by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the gender pay gap among American workers experienced its first “statistically significant” widening in 20 years. Was that an anomaly? Well ...
A new Census Bureau reportOpen in a new tab, released Sept. 9, revealed the gender pay gap actually increased in the subsequent 12 months. The data displayed that the median full-time female worker made 81% as much as the median male worker ($57,500 vs. $71,000) in 2024, down from 83% from the year prior. READ MORE
As founders and C-suite executives grow wealthier from soaring stock gains, billionaire Mark Cuban says employees deserve a piece of that pie too.
Responding to a recent Oxfam report about billionaire wealth increasing by $33 trillion since 2015, Cuban posted on X that the reason behind the surge is that “the stock market has gone straight up.” READ MORE