Pope Leo XIV criticized a Tesla board plan that could make CEO Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, saying the proposal illustrated a loss of social values and a widening gap between the wealthiest and working people.
In an interview granted in July and published Sunday by the Catholic news site Crux, the pontiff — formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago — said the possibility that Musk could amass unprecedented wealth was emblematic of “the value of human life, of the family, of the value of society” being eroded. “Yesterday, the news [arrived] that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world,” he told Crux. “If that is the only thing that has any value any more, then we are in big trouble.”
Leo framed the proposed pay package as part of a broader trend in which executive pay has grown far faster than worker wages. He said CEO compensation ratios that once might have been four to six times average worker pay have widened to hundreds of times, a point he raised in remarks excerpted for a forthcoming Spanish-language biography to be published by Penguin Peru.
The Tesla board’s unprecedented compensation plan is contingent on a series of ambitious milestones, including delivering 20 million electric vehicles, putting one million robotaxis into service and increasing Tesla’s market value beyond $7.5 trillion. If all targets are met, the proposal could lead to stock awards valued as high as $1 trillion. A shareholder vote on the plan is scheduled for November.
Elon Musk moved last week to buy roughly $1 billion of Tesla stock through a revocable trust, according to a regulatory filing first reported by Bloomberg News, a purchase that coincided with a surge in Tesla shares. The stock jumped as much as 7.3% in premarket trading on the day of the purchase and had risen 6.3% on a recent Friday, reflecting short-term investor enthusiasm tied to Musk’s buy and the board’s proposal.
Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm defended the package, saying the awards are designed to retain Musk and keep his focus on the company’s long-term transition into artificial intelligence and robotics. Denholm has said that Musk is uniquely positioned to lead Tesla’s next decade and acknowledged he could shift into a different role, such as chief product officer, while remaining central to the company’s strategy.
Investors and analysts have expressed skepticism about whether the milestones are achievable and whether rewards tied to such targets are appropriate. Tesla has struggled with falling deliveries and shrinking profits in recent quarters: global EV deliveries are down about 13% and the company’s operating margin has narrowed to roughly 2.1%, according to analysts’ summaries of recent results. Those pressures have been compounded by the expiration of certain U.S. electric-vehicle incentives, intensified competition from Chinese automaker BYD, price cuts on key models and reliance on supply chains with exposure to tariffs and geopolitical risk.
Musk, who remains the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of about $419 billion, bought large tranches of Tesla stock in 2022, spending more than $20 billion that year as he acquired Twitter. Company insiders and investors have also raised concerns about Musk’s increasing involvement in politics and government, including endorsements and a brief role in a U.S. administration, activity that has prompted protests, boycotts and vandalism at some Tesla showrooms.
Analysts caution that Tesla’s long-term valuation increasingly depends on ambitious bets beyond electric vehicles — including Optimus humanoid robots and robotaxi services — areas Musk has said could account for a majority of the company’s future value. Critics argue those businesses are unproven at scale and may take many years to generate the revenue and profits necessary to justify the board’s proposed package.
The Post has sought comment from Tesla. The proposed compensation plan and the pope’s critique have added new dimensions to a debate that spans corporate governance, wealth inequality and the strategic direction of one of the world’s most closely watched companies.
