Musk's Tesla pay was 2.5 million times the average worker's salary

Tesla CEO Elon Musk received compensation last year that was 2,522,203 times the annual income of an average company employee, according to an analysis by Electrek based on AFL-CIO statistics.

The payout to Musk totaled $158 billion. For context, Tesla's annual revenue for the same period was $94 billion — and it declined by 3%, the first drop in the company's history. The sum paid to Musk also exceeded Tesla's cumulative profit over its entire existence.

In the U.S. labor market, a ratio of 300:1 between a CEO's pay and the average worker's salary is considered typical. Musk, however, emerged as the highest-paid chief executive of the year. His compensation also skewed national statistics significantly: excluding Musk's payout, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio in the U.S. rose from 285:1 to 312:1, but including it, the figure jumps to 5387:1.

Tesla employs approximately 135,000 people. Their combined annual income was several times lower than the amount paid to Musk for running the company. The source notes that Musk's personal activity has had a rather negative impact on Tesla's reputation, making such a generous compensation seem irrational. Nevertheless, Tesla shareholders approved the compensation program under which Musk received the sum.