More than two months ago, Tesla published its fourth “Master Plan,” a gauzy post about how the company wants to spread “sustainable abundance” via its future products. Details remain woefully absent, but that hasn’t stopped Tesla from making it the central prop in its bid to convince shareholders to hand CEO Elon Musk a compensation package worth $1 trillion at the company’s annual meeting on Thursday.
If that vote passes, the world’s richest man would receive the biggest pay package in corporate history.
When the “Plan” released, it was so vague that it drew criticism from some of the company’s biggest fans. Even Musk, who said that criticism was “[f]air” and claimed Tesla would “add more specifics,” acknowledged the plan’s lack of details.
The post remains unchanged, despite the fact that it’s a centerpiece of Tesla’s relentless campaign.
Musk has maintained he cares less about the money and more about retaining control over Tesla and the “robot army” he wants to build — and he has threatened to leave if the vote fails.
Master Plan 4 lies in stark contrast to prior “Master Plans” released by Tesla. Each of those included concrete goals and tangible ideas, though some were so lofty that Tesla has still not yet accomplished them. The third Master Plan, released in 2023, focused on creating a sustainable energy economy and came in the form of a 41-page white paper.
Tesla and Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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Musk teased the fourth Master Plan back in June 2024. “Working on the Tesla Master Plan 4,” Musk wrote on X at the time. “It will be epic.”
In August of this year, he wrote in another post that “Master Plan 3 was too complex for almost anyone to understand,” and said “Master Plan 4 will be concise.” Tesla published the plan just a few days later.
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