Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, on paper at least, when SpaceX went public in its June 2026 IPO. He made much of his fortune in other ventures, namely in PayPal and then in Tesla, in which he bought a stake more than two decades ago.
Musk, self-titled Technoking and CEO of Tesla, has been rewarded handsomely for transforming the company from a niche electric sports car maker into the biggest EV powerhouse in the U.S., with a $1.5 trillion market valuation.
Since 2019, Musk has taken no salary, but he has been tremendously rewarded with stock.
Here’s how many Tesla shares Musk owns, how much they’re worth, and how he accumulated so much stock.
How much of Tesla does Elon Musk own?
Elon Musk owned 699.58 million shares of Tesla, which equated to a 19.8% stake of the company, as of September 30, 2026, according to the EV maker’s 2026 proxy statement. Those shares — adjusted for stock splits — were valued at $269 billion as of early November 2026.
Is Elon Musk the largest individual shareholder of Tesla?
Elon Musk is the largest individual shareholder of Tesla stock. Only institutional investors hold more shares.
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Tesla’s largest institutional shareholders
Since Musk holds about a fifth of Tesla’s outstanding shares, institutional investors account for a combined 49.4% stake, according to Nasdaq.
The Vanguard Group owns the most, with 258.9 million shares, followed by BlackRock with 214.1 million shares, and Vanguard Capital Management, with 184.0 million shares.
How and when did Elon Musk accumulate his Tesla stock?
Elon Musk first bought into Tesla in 2004, when it was a fledgling electric-vehicle maker. He became its CEO in 2008, and then took the company public two years later. Musk held nearly 28.4 million Tesla shares, which equated to 29.06% of total outstanding shares in 2010, according to the EV maker’s 2011 proxy statement.
In all but a few years, Musk received no stock as part of his compensation, and he took home a small, token salary of around $33,000 to $50,000 (the checks were reportedly not cashed). Within the past two decades, instead of receiving stock to meet the company’s internal performance targets each year, his compensation was delivered in 2012, 2018, and 2025.
More on Tesla:
- History of Tesla & its stock: Timeline, facts & milestones
- Tesla-SpaceX merger math just shifted in Tesla’s favor
- Elon Musk doubles down on the Roadster with SpaceX thrusters
How much Tesla stock does Elon Musk get as part of his compensation package?
In 2012, for meeting specific criteria, such as reaching market capitalization milestones and achieving vehicle production targets, Tesla’s board of directors granted Musk options to purchase 5,274,901 Tesla common shares — which represented 5% of Tesla’s total issued and outstanding shares at the time — at an exercise price of $31.17 per share. This pay-for-performance model was used for future compensation payouts.
As part of the contentious 2018 CEO Performance Award, Musk was awarded stock options to purchase 20,264,042 shares of Tesla’s common stock. In 2020, Tesla conducted a 5-for-1 stock split, and in 2022, it conducted a 3-for-1 split — both of which increased the number of shares Musk held.
Musk was awarded 96 million shares under the 2025 CEO Interim Award, which was separate from the performance awards and given as an incentive to retain him as Tesla’s CEO.
Under the 2025 CEO Performance Award, Musk will be awarded up to 423,743,904 shares of restricted Tesla common stock if he meets milestones related to Tesla’s market capitalization and vehicle deliveries.
Related: How much Amazon stock does CEO Andy Jassy actually own?
