A million people on Mars, a billion SpaceX shares: Inside Elon Musk’s peculiar performance-based bonuses

May 25, 2026

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Musk is in for a major payday if SpaceX is able to establish a city on Mars. “I have a hard time taking it seriously,” one expert said.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager in 2021 to capture this image of Santa Cruz, a hill about 1.5 miles away from the rover.NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS

May 25, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

When SpaceX released its investor prospectus last week, it revealed an unusual condition in the compensation deal for CEO Elon Musk: In order for him to earn performance-based shares, the company has to establish a permanent human colony on Mars with at least 1 million people.