Elon Musk, already the world's wealthiest person, is set to become even wealthier. He is on course to become the planet's first dollar trillionaire. This is because of a new remuneration package approved by Tesla shareholders at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday. Seventy-five per cent of shareholder votes endorsed a stratospheric pay deal of around $1 trillion. A trillion is a thousand billion. The compensation consists of up to 423.7 million shares of Tesla stock over the next 10 years. This would mean that Mr Musk's stake in Tesla increases from about 13 per cent to almost 29 per cent. This depends on Musk boosting Tesla's market value to $8.5 trillion.

Tesla shareholders were encouraged to back the deal to stop Mr Musk from potentially walking away from Tesla. The Tesla board warned of a "possibility that he may pursue other interests should [the deal] be denied". It added that Musk was needed "to achieve goals that others will perceive as impossible, but that we know are possible for Tesla". Industry analyst Dan Ives concurred. He wrote: "Tesla needs Musk to take it into the autonomous driving, robotic future." Mr Musk hopes to propel the company forward by shifting focus from electric vehicles. He plans to shift to selling self-driving cars, a fleet of "Cybercab" robotaxis, and a legion of "Optimus" humanoid bi-pedal autonomous robots.