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Elon Musk conditioned his compensation at SpaceX on goals that no executive in corporate history dared to establish. The company’s board approved a package of 200 million shares that will only be released if SpaceX reaches a market value of R$ 37.5 trillion and maintains a permanent human colony with at least 1 million people on Mars. The conditions have no deadline and were revealed in a confidential filing sent to the SEC and analyzed by Reuters.
Elon Musk has turned the colonization of Mars into a corporate goal tied to his own compensation. A confidential filing sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that the entrepreneur will only receive a new package of shares from SpaceX if the company manages to maintain a permanent human colony with at least 1 million people on the red planet and achieve a market value equivalent to R$ 37.5 trillion. Today, Musk receives a fixed salary of US$ 54,080 per year at SpaceX, about R$ 270,000, an amount considered symbolic for the world’s richest man.
The conditions approved by the board in January have no deadline to be met, making the package unique in corporate history. The plan provides for the delivery of 200 million restricted shares with extended voting rights: each Class B share grants ten votes, which would increase Musk’s control over the company as the goals are achieved. If none of the requirements are met, the entrepreneur receives nothing beyond the symbolic salary. The approval occurred as SpaceX prepares to go public in a transaction that could value it at about US$ 1.75 trillion.
What it means to establish a colony of 1 million people on Mars
According to information released by the portal IG, the goal of establishing a permanent colony with 1 million people on Mars is, by any measure, the most ambitious requirement ever included in a corporate compensation plan. No human has set foot on Mars, no permanent base has been built outside Earth, and the logistics of transporting and sustaining 1 million people 225 million kilometers away require technology that does not yet exist. NASA itself predicts the first manned mission to the red planet only for the 2040s.
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For Musk, the colonization of Mars is not just a compensation goal: it is the stated reason why SpaceX was founded. The entrepreneur has stated for years that making humanity multiplanetary is the company’s central mission, and the share package turns this vision into a formal financial commitment. If the colony is never established, Musk forgoes a payment that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The value of R$ 37.5 trillion and the upcoming IPO
The second condition of the package is that SpaceX reaches a market value equivalent to R$ 37.5 trillion (about US$ 7.5 trillion). For comparison, the most valuable company in the world today, Apple, is worth about US$ 3 trillion, which means that SpaceX would need to be worth more than twice the largest company on the planet to release Musk’s shares.
The company is preparing to go public around June 28, in a transaction that could value it at about US$ 1.75 trillion, approximately R$ 8.75 trillion. This value would already place SpaceX among the five most valuable companies in the world on the first day of trading, but it would still represent less than a quarter of the goal needed for Musk’s payment. The growth from US$ 1.75 trillion to US$ 7.5 trillion would require unprecedented expansion that depends not only on Mars but on the entire SpaceX operation in commercial launches, Starlink internet, and government contracts.
The extra goals: data centers in space and nuclear-scale energy
In addition to the Martian **colony**, there is a second block of requirements that releases additional **shares**. **Musk can receive up to 60.4 million extra shares if SpaceX operates data centers in space with a capacity of at least 100 terawatts**, an energy volume equivalent to about 100,000 one-gigawatt nuclear reactors operating simultaneously. The **goal** outlines an orbital computational infrastructure that has no parallel even in science fiction.
The **shares** from this second block are released in stages as the company’s **value** rises, following valuation milestones defined in the agreement. **Without reaching the milestones, there is no payment**, maintaining the logic that **Musk** only earns if he delivers results that expand the boundaries of what **SpaceX** can do. The combination of a **colony** on **Mars** and space data centers creates a **compensation** plan that is, in practice, a roadmap for the transformation of human civilization.
The dispute between SpaceX and Tesla for Musk’s attention
The package escalates a tension that already worries investors of both companies. **Elon Musk** also leads **Tesla**, where he owns about 20% of the **shares** and has another **compensation** plan linked to performance **goals**. **Experts interviewed by Reuters state that the two companies are now competing for the entrepreneur’s attention**, who already divides his time between **SpaceX**, **Tesla**, X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, and xAI.
Eric Hoffmann, from Farient Advisors, questioned whether the **goals** have precedent: “Has this ever been done in human history?” Courtney Yu, from Equilar, noted that **goals** outside the financial standard, such as the colonization of **Mars** and space infrastructure, are extremely rare in corporate **compensation** plans. **SpaceX and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment**, leaving the market to interpret alone what the package means for the future of both companies.
What happens if Mars remains out of reach
The scenario where **Musk** never receives the **shares** is as plausible as that of success. **The colonization of Mars faces challenges of cosmic radiation, reduced gravity, food production, energy generation, and psychological sustenance** that current science has not resolved. Even if **SpaceX** manages to land humans on the red planet in the next decade, the transition from a scientific base to a **colony** of 1 **million** **people** requires centuries of development, not years.
For investors who will buy **SpaceX** **shares** in the IPO, the question is whether **Musk’s** **goals** are visionary or impossible. **The entrepreneur’s net worth, estimated by Forbes at US$ 776 billion, suggests he can afford to bet**, but the market will have to decide if a company whose CEO conditions his payment on the colonization of another planet is an investment opportunity or an exercise in megalomania with a corporate veneer.
Do you think Elon Musk will manage to put 1 million people on Mars or is this goal impossible even without a deadline? Tell us in the comments if you would invest in SpaceX knowing that the CEO’s plan includes colonizing another planet and operating data centers in space.
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