Elon Musk Receives A $1.7M Reward From Tesla For Participating In New Patent Applications

When most people think of Elon Musk, even some of his biggest fans, think of him as a great businessman with one of a kind entrepreneurial spirit. However, as he often likes to remind people, Musk at heart is first and foremost an engineer.

Yes, with the number of companies he started, Musk is one of the busiest people on earth. Currently, he is the CEO of Tesla and the space exploration venture he founded, SpaceX. Musk is also involved in other companies he founded such as The Boring Company and Neuralink.

However, on top of his CEO roles at two of his biggest companies, Musk is also the Chief Product Engineer at Tesla and the Chief Technology Officer at SpaceX. In his more engineering-focused roles, Musk goes into the weeds making major engineering and design decisions.

Related News: Tesla PowerWall Now Available Separately: Easy Backup Power and Lower Electricity Cost

For example, Musk is credited as the brains behind the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exoskeleton body. At SpaceX, Musk is also behind some pivotal engineering decisions such as transitioning the company’s rockets to use methane and changing the body of SpaceX’s upcoming rocket from carbon fiber to stainless steel.

And due to his direct involvement in design and engineering decisions, Elon Musk, unlike most other CEOs, from time to time gets directly referenced in patent applications as part of some new technology one of his companies is working on.

And today, for this reason, Elon Musk has received a $1.7 million award from Tesla as part of a company-wide patent incentive program. Tesla awarded this prize to Musk in a form of an option to buy 10,500 Tesla shares at an average price of $4.73.

NEWS: New Form 4 from Elon Musk tonight showing some small equity grants being exercised.The option award was granted as part of Tesla's company-wide patent incentive program, and the total number of shares subject to the option was vested and https://t.co/HQbdwsWtda… https://t.co/aMViXOfPAb pic.twitter.com/3TNVHaczrD— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) March 11, 2023

Musk immediately exercised this option by paying around $49,000 for the 10,500 Tesla shares. However, thanks to the increase in Tesla's stock price, the 10,500 shares are now worth $1.75 million at Tesla’s current stock price of $167 per share.

And when subtracting the $49,000 Musk paid for the option from the current value of the 10,500 Tesla shares it leaves the Tesla CEO a $1.7 million difference as a reward.

Having said that, in order to realize the $1.7 million in profit, Musk will need to sell the 10,500 Tesla shares and as of now, there is no indication he has done so. However, we will be sure to keep you posted if the situation changes.

Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.

So what do you think? Excited to learn about Elon Musk’s involvement in coming up with some of Tesla’s patents? Also, do you think $1.7 million is fair compensation for this service? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla

For more information check out: Secrets of the Tesla Cybertruck Revealed: Prices, Variants, Accessories, and Specs

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.