Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. Not marginally — dramatically. Even 1% of his net worth is more than most people could spend in multiple lifetimes.
But in a 2022 post on X, Musk pushed back on the idea that Tesla operates like a traditional hierarchy.
"Everyone eats same food, uses same restrooms, etc — no executive chef or other ivory tower stuff," he wrote. "There shouldn't be this workers vs management two-class system. Everyone is a worker."
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Now in 2025, and Musk is still fighting to reinstate a $56 billion Tesla compensation package that was struck down last year by a Delaware court.
The court's decision was grounded in findings that the package was negotiated by directors lacking independence from Musk and that shareholders were misled by flawed disclosures during the approval process. Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick described the compensation as an "unfathomable sum" and highlighted the undue influence Musk had over the board, noting close personal ties with several directors .
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Meanwhile, factory workers at Tesla's plants in Texas and Nevada are reportedly earning as little as $22 an hour. Even at the top of the pay scale, hourly wages max out around $39, Business Insider reported last year.
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According to Tesla's proxy statement, Musk appeared to take home nothing in 2022—at least on paper. The company reported his total compensation as zero for the year, which technically brought the CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio down to 0:1.
But that snapshot doesn't tell the whole story. Just one year earlier, in 2021, Musk exercised a massive batch of stock options that were set to expire, realizing gains of $23.45 billion. Tesla's filings show his "total realized compensation" for 2021 was $734,762,107, and based on the median employee salary of around $40,000 that year, the pay ratio came out to 18,043 to 1.
Musk's supporters argue that his compensation was performance-based and tied to milestones that drove massive value for shareholders. Critics point out that while Tesla's valuation soared, the workers powering its growth haven't seen the same rewards — and in some cases, have even seen wages reduced.
The legal battle over Musk's record-breaking pay is ongoing. But so is the conversation about whether Tesla really operates without a two-class system — or whether that idea only works in theory, not on the assembly line.
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