Tesla CEO Elon Musk is currently working for free.

The second-richest person in the world hasn't received a cash salary since 2019 - when he was paid just $23,760 to comply with California's minimum wage law.

Instead, Musk made deals in 2012 and 2018 to be paid with stock options, giving him the right to sell Tesla stock at below-market prices.

But the 2012 options contract expired last year, and Tesla confirmed in last month's fourth-quarter earnings report that Musk received the final block of options he agreed to receive as part of the deal. your 2018 salary package. salary or stock options, Musk isn't paid to be CEO of Tesla right now - but don't feel too sorry for him.The 2018 compensation package paid him about $56 billion worth of Tesla stock, which is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit following a lawsuit by individual shareholder Richard Tornetta.

Musk's attorney said in October that Tesla paid him billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock because he was not a "typical CEO" and his role was tied to the company's stock performance. company.

"The 2018 plan was designed with Musk in mind," they explained in a pre-test summary. “The plan designed and approved by the board is not a typical compensation package intended to compensate the average executive responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of a mature company.”