Musk's Stock Options Worth 13 Trillion Won Evaporate Amid 'Tesla Plunge'... Google CEO Tops Annual Salary

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, suffered significant losses not only from the stock price plunge last year, which wiped out assets worth $200 billion (approximately 268 trillion KRW), but also from a sharp decline in the value of his stock options. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, emerged as the highest-paid CEO among companies in the S&P 500 index.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla
Photo by Yonhap News

On the 15th (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) cited data from corporate information research firm MyLogIQ, reporting that the value of Musk's stock options decreased by $10 billion (approximately 13.4 trillion KRW) last year.

Musk received stock options worth $2.3 billion (approximately 3.1 trillion KRW) in 2018. The value of these stock options was estimated to have reached $65 billion (approximately 87.1 trillion KRW) in 2021, but as Tesla's stock price plummeted by 65% last year, the value of the stock options also declined.

Tesla's stock price fell due to the Federal Reserve's (Fed) aggressive tightening last year and a slowdown in electric vehicle demand. Additionally, criticism that Musk was unable to focus on Tesla's management after acquiring Twitter in October last year, combined with concerns over 'owner risk' due to various eccentric behaviors, caused Tesla's stock price to continue sliding.

According to MyLogIQ's analysis of CEO compensation for about 400 companies included in the S&P 500 index, two out of three CEOs saw a decrease in the value of their stock options. However, 46 CEOs experienced their stock option values more than double due to stock price increases.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

Furthermore, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, was identified as the highest-paid CEO among companies in the S&P 500 index last year. Alphabet, Google's parent company, paid Pichai a combined salary and stock option value of $226 million (approximately 300 billion KRW) last year. Apple CEO Tim Cook received $99.42 million (approximately 133.2 billion KRW) in compensation, ranking third.

The median compensation for CEOs of companies in the S&P 500 index last year was $14.5 million (approximately 1.94 billion KRW), down $200,000 (approximately 270 million KRW) from the previous year's $14.7 million.