Tesla CEO and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has finally responded to the criticism from Pope Leo XIV over Tesla’s proposed $1 trillion pay compensation package with a sharp Bible verse. Musk’s response to Pope’s criticism has started a global debate on wealth, corporate ambition and morality. The controversy started when Pope Leo, the first American-born pontiff raised questions on Musk’s potential rise as the world’s first trillionaire. In a recent interview with The Crux, the Pope said, “Yesterday the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean, and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble”. He linked Elon Musk’s pay package to the growing income inequality. He mentioned that the CEO’s earn 600 times more as compared to an average worker. The pontiff warned that such disparities reflect a dangerous shift in societal values.
Tesla’s trillion dollar plan
Tesla proposed a compensation plan which would award Musk up to 423.7 million shares over a decade. The chairperson of Tesla’s board of directors, Robyn Denholm, has defended Musk’s new multibillion-dollar compensation plan. The plan, which could be the largest in corporate history, was unveiled in a regulatory filing last week. In a recent interview with The New York Times, at Tesla’s engineering headquarters in California, Denholm said that Musk’s compensation should depend on his ability to achieve “seemingly impossible goals.” She stated that Musk is capable of delivering world-changing technology if he is driven by these ambitious targets, even as the company faces a drop in sales and profits.“Putting together any compensation plan, you need to look at what motivates the individual that you’re trying to motivate. And for Elon, it’s doing things that no one else has done before,” Denholm said when asked about Musk’s proposed pay package.
Elon Musk’s scriptural response
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now responded to Pope’s criticism by sharing a Bible Verse in a post on X (formerly known as twitter). “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” wrote Musk.The verse shared by Musk has been interred as a jab at the Vatican’s own wealth which is estimated to be $2 trillion.