Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk has earned the first portion of a windfall payout tied to stock options, Tesla said in a filing late Thursday. As part of a performance-award agreement in Musk’s 2018 compensation package, the CEO stood to receive options to purchase shares if Tesla TSLA, 0.79% reached certain benchmarks, an important one being a market capitalization averaging $100 billion for six months. One of 12 tranches under that package “has vested and become exercisable,” Tesla said in the filing. That is now “subject to Mr. Musk’s payment of the exercise price of $350.02 per share and the minimum five-year holding period generally applicable to any shares he acquires upon exercise,” the company said. At the end of the process, that would mean a paper profit around $775 million for Musk. Tesla shares ended Thursday at $805.81. Musk has not taken a salary from Tesla, and “100% of Mr. Musk’s future compensation is ‘at-risk’” in the form of the remaining unvested stock options under the 2018 package and a 10-year performance-based stock option award granted in 2012, Tesla said in the filing.

Tesla’s Elon Musk gets performance-based payday worth nearly $800 million – MarketWatch