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The world’s richest man was just handed a chance to become history’s first trillionaire.Elon Musk won a shareholder vote on Thursday that would give the Tesla CEO stock worth $1 trillion if he hits certain performance targets over the next decade. The vote followed weeks of debate over his management record at the electric car maker and whether anyone deserved such unprecedented pay, drawing heated commentary from small investors to giant pension funds and even the pope.In the end, more than 75% of voters approved the plan as shareholders gathered in Austin, Texas, for their annual meeting.“Fantastic group of shareholders,” Musk said after the final vote was tallied, adding “Hang on to your Tesla stock.”The vote is a resounding victory for Musk showing investors still have faith in him as Tesla struggles with plunging sales, market share and profits in no small part due to Musk himself. Car buyers fled the company this year as he has ventured into politics both in the U.S. and Europe, and trafficked in conspiracy theories.The vote came just three days after a report from Europe showing Tesla car sales plunged again last month, including a 50% collapse in Germany.Still, many Tesla investors consider Musk as a sort of miracle man capable of stunning business feats, such as when he pulled Tesla from the brink of bankruptcy a half-dozen years ago to turn it into one of the world’s most valuable companies.The vote clears a path for Musk to become a trillionaire by granting him new shares, but it won’t be easy. The board of directors that designed the pay package require him to hit several ambitious financial and operational targets, including increasing the value of the company on the stock market nearly six times its current level.Musk also has to deliver 20 million Tesla electric vehicles to the market over 10 years amid new, stiff competition, more than double the number since the founding of the company. He also has to deploy 1 million of his human-like robots that he has promised will transform work and home he calls it a “robot army” from zero today.Musk could add billions to his wealth in a few years by partly delivering these goals, according to various intermediate steps that will hand him newly created stock in the company as he nears the ultimate targets.That could help him eventually top what is now considered America’s all-time richest man, John D. Rockefeller. The oil titan is estimated by Guinness World Records to have been worth $630 billion, in current dollars, at his peak wealth more than 110 years ago. Musk is worth $493 billion, as estimated by Forbes magazine.Musk’s win came despite opposition from several large funds, including CalPERS, the biggest U.S. public pension, and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. Two corporate watchdogs, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, also blasted the package, which so angered Musk he took to calling them “corporate terrorists” at a recent investor meeting.Critics argued that the board of directors was too beholden to Musk, his behavior too reckless lately and the riches offered too much.“He has hundreds of billions of dollars already in the company and to say that he won’t stay without a trillion is ridiculous,” said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at research firm Telemetry who has been covering Tesla for nearly two decades. “It’s absurd that shareholders think he is worth this much.”Supporters said that Musk needed to be incentivized to focus on the company as he works to transform it into an AI powerhouse using software to operate hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla cars many without steering wheels and Tesla robots deployed in offices, factories and homes doing many tasks now handled by humans.“This AI chapter needs one person to lead it and that’s Musk,” said financial analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. “It’s a huge win for shareholders.”Investors voting for the pay had to consider not only this Musk promise of a bold, new tomorrow, but whether he could ruin things today: He had threatened to walk away from the company, which investors feared would tank the stock.Tesla shares, already up 80% in the past year, rose on news of the vote in after-hours trading but then flattened basically unchanged to $445.44.For his part, Musk says the vote wasn’t really about the money but getting a higher Tesla stake it will double to nearly 30% so he could have more power over the company. He said that was a pressing concern given Tesla’s future “robot army” that he suggested he didn’t trust anyone else to control given the possible danger to humanity.Other issues up for a vote at the annual meeting turned out wins for Musk, too.Shareholders approved allowing Tesla to invest in one of Musk’s other ventures, xAI. They also shot down a proposal to make it easier for shareholders to sue the company by lowering the size of ownership needed to file. The current rule requires at least a 3% stake.-This story corrects that Rockefeller wealth was in oil, not railroads. Bernard Condon, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The United States has about 640 million acres of public land, covering national parks to conservation areas and wild rivers to lake shores. These lands contain resources like oil and gas reserves, or minerals like lithium and copper that could be mined. But theyre also home to hiking trails, camping sites, fishing spots, and all sorts of outdoor recreational activitiesactivities that contribute billions of dollars to our economy. Outdoor recreation specifically on federal public lands and waters generates $128 billion in economic activity every year, according to a new report by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), a coalition of trade associations and outdoor organizations. That translates to $351 million a day from access to outdoor recreation on public lands and watersor $14.6 million in economic value every hour. The ORR report is a first-of-its-kind assessment meant to highlight the value of keeping public lands open and available to such activities, rather than closing them off to outdoor enthusiasts so that they can be mined and drilled for resources. The report comes amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, during which national parks have limited staff and so may also limit public access. The study also follows multiple attacks on public lands by President Donald Trump, from considering selling off millions of acres to actually opening up public lands to more drilling and mining. [Photo: Robert Cocquyt/Adobe Stock] Outdoor recreation as an economic engine Outdoor recreation in the U.S. is a $1.2 trillion industry, supporting more than five million jobs and made up of more than 110,000 businesses (plus the countless individuals who partake in all sorts of activities, from boating to RVing to hiking). Whitney Potter Schwartz, ORRs senior vice president of communications and operations, calls this industry one of Americas greatest economic engines. Yet, there hasnt been a comprehensive picture of exactly how federal lands specifically contribute to all those numbers, she adds, until the study out this week. The $128 billion generated by such activities includes at least half a billion dollars that go straight to federal coffers through park passes, entrance fees, permits, and leases. Then theres federal taxes revenue, which totals $5.8 billion. State and local taxes add another $5 billion. But outdoor recreation also benefits American businesses and American workers. Of the outdoor recreation industrys five million jobs, one in five depend on federal public lands. When people visit public lands, they usually spend money on food, hotels, or recreational equipment. Direct annual spending by recreational visitors to federal public lands totals $72 billion, per the report. Federal agencies, like the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, produce their own economic reports, but this is the first time all the information has been pulled together to provide a collective picture of outdoor recreation on public lands, says Rob Southwick, a senior adviser at Southwick Associates, which conducted the study. Economic models helped fill in the gaps, like to understand how much Americans spend outside of these sites. [Photo: Mick Haupt/Unsplash] A sustainable, long-term revenue source Using federal public lands for outdoor recreation provides a value that is sustainable, recurring, and long term, the report shows. Thats counter to the idea of generating revenue from public lands through resource extraction including oil, gas, and minerals. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has proposed leveraging the countrys public lands to pay off its national debt, specifically by ramping up drilling and mining. He has said he views public lands and waters as part of the countrys balance sheet, full of valuable assets just waiting to be extracted. But such resources are finite, the ORR report notes. When the oil, gas, or minerals are gone, so are the associated jobs, income, and tax revenues, it reads. Furthermore, the land may require remediation before it is fit for other uses or it may never return as a revenue-bearing asset. Outdoor recreation, in contrast, is a sustainable and appreciating asset, Schwartz says. Americans can hike, camp, and climb on the same piece of land over and over again, continuously generating money. Recreation can also support more jobs than other activities. Its the largest source of economic returns from U.S. Forest Service lands, the report notes, supporting 161,000 jobs. In comparison, forest products, livestock grazing, mineral extraction, and energy production support a combined 103,200 jobs. Access to recreation is this economic powerhouse, Schwartz says, and it delivers these compounding returns year after year for the econoy.
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E-Commerce
In a new holiday ad for Starbucks, set to the tune of Im Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers, two adorable animated figures traipse across Starbuckss red holiday cups to reunite. Its a sweet video that highlights Starbuckss transition into the winter holidays, one of the biggest sales moments of the year for the company. But while the iconic red cups are starring in Starbuckss early holiday promotion, theyve also become the center of an ongoing dispute with Starbucks Workers Unitedand a potential strike. On November 6, Starbucks released its holiday menu in stores, including seasonal beverages, treats, and cups. The rollout heralds the arrival of Red Cup Day on November 13, an annual event when Starbucks offers free reusable cups to any customer who makes a holiday beverage purchase. Last year, an internal memo from Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, showed that Red Cup Day 2024 was the companys best U.S. sales day of all time. Meanwhile, on November 5, Workers United overwhelmingly voted to authorize a proposed strike, starting on November 13, if Starbucks fails to finalize a fair contract with the union by then. Union baristas are prepared to turn Starbucks Red Cup Day into the Red Cup Rebellion, a press release from the union reads. Today, its been nearly four years since Starbucks workers organized their first store, with no contract agreement in sightand, as the holidays roll around, its becoming clear that while the red cup symbolizes a huge financial win for Starbucks, its become a symbol of frustration for the union. Whats happened between Starbucks and its union? Starbucks and its union have been embroiled in a dispute over the companys contracts since 2021. In the broadest of terms, the union is looking to secure better wages, benefits, and guaranteed hours for its employees. Starbucks, meanwhile, claims that it already offers the best overall wage and benefits package in retail. In April 2025, the union rejected a contract proposal from Starbucks, which it says failed to improve wages or benefits in the first year of the contract and didnt put forth proposals to address chronic understaffing. Since then, negotiations between the two parties have broken down. Now, per a press release, Workers United says that union workers are prepared to strike in more than 25 cities as an “opening salvo, if Starbucks does not offer new contract proposals which address workers demands for better staffing, higher pay, and a resolution of unfair labor practice charges. Jaci Anderson, Starbuckss director of global communications, says that the union represents a small percent of Starbuckss workforce, including 550 stores in total. Starbucks customers, she adds, should feel assured that the vast majority of the companys more than 10,000 company operated and 7,000 licensed locations in the U.S. will be open on November 13, regardless of the unions plans. We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table, she says. When theyre ready to come back, were ready to talk. In a letter published on Starbucks’s website on November 5 in response to Workers Uniteds strike authorization, chief partner officer Sara Kelly wrote, Starbucks offers the best overall wage and benefits package in retail, worth on average $30 per hour for hourly partners, going on to add, Workers United proposes pay increases of 65% immediately and 77% over three years with additional payments on top of this for almost every aspect of the job, including for working within three hours of opening or closing, for working on the weekend, for receiving inventory, or on a day when Starbucks runs a promotion. A Workers United spokesperson told Fast Company that Kellys letter intentionally obfuscated the union baristas goals. They pointed out that the $30 an hour figure includes both wages and benefits togetherwhile, in 33 states, the starting wage for a barista is $15.25. Further, they added, the proposals that she attributes to the union are outdated and were never offered as a package deal, but rather as a variety of options available on the bargaining table. Our fight is about actually making Starbucks jobs the best jobs in retail, Jasmine Leli, a three-year Starbucks barista and strike captain, said in the Workers United press release. Right now, its only the best job in retail for Brian Niccol. Red Cup Rebellion 2.0 If the strike proceeds as planned, it wont be the first Red Cup Rebellion in Starbucks history. Back in 2023, union baristas held a similar protest at more than 200 stores, which, at the time, was the largest strike in the unions history. At the time, the union explained that, due to its popularity, Red Cup Day is one of the hardest days for Starbucks workers, due to an explosion in foot traffic and chronic understaffing. For this Red Cup Rebellion, a Workers United spokesperson told Fast Company, union workers are prepared to make a potential strike bigger and longer than any strikes in years past. As the dispute between Starbucks and Workers United continues with no clear end in sight, the red holiday cup has become the ultimate symbol of how the company’s corporate goals clash with union barista’s demands.
Category:
E-Commerce
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