Tesla shareholders on Thursday approved a plan that could make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, two days after New Yorkers elected a tax-the-rich candidate as their next mayor.

週四，也就是紐約市民選舉一位主張向富人徵稅的候選人擔任市長兩天後，特斯拉股東通過了一項可能使伊隆·馬斯克成為全球首位萬億富翁的方案。

These discrete moments offered strikingly different lessons about America and who deserves how much of its wealth.

這兩件事看似毫不相關，卻展現了關於美國社會及其財富分配問題的鮮明對照。

At Tesla, based in the Austin, Texas, area, shareholders have largely bought into a winner-takes-all version of capitalism, agreeing by a wide margin to give Mr. Musk shares worth almost a trillion dollars if the company under his management achieves ambitious financial and operational goals over the next decade.

在總部位於得克薩斯州奧斯汀地區的特斯拉，股東們基本信奉「贏家通吃」的資本主義模式，他們以壓倒性票數達成一致：如果馬斯克在未來十年內能帶領公司實現雄心勃勃的財務和運營目標，就給予他價值近1萬億美元的股份。

But halfway across the country, in the home to Wall Street, Zohran Mamdani’s victory served as a reminder of the frustrations many Americans have with an economic system that has left them struggling to afford basics like food, housing and child care.

而在美國另一端的華爾街所在地，佐蘭·馬姆達尼的當選折射出許多美國人對經濟體制的不滿——這個體系讓他們為食品、住房和育兒等基本開支疲於奔命。

These are vastly different arenas, to be sure. But that split-screen reality speaks to a larger divide in American business and politics. On one side are billionaires like Mr. Musk and their many supporters, including President Trump, who see the financial success of a small group of executives as something to be celebrated and emulated.

這兩件事當然屬於截然不同的領域，但這種並存的現實反映了美國商業和政治中更深層的分裂。一邊是像馬斯克這樣的億萬富翁以及他們的眾多支持者，包括川普總統，他們認為一小部分高管的經濟成功值得頌揚和效仿。

On the other are progressives like Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, who are calling for something more akin to the social welfare systems of Western Europe. Mr. Mamdani campaigned on using higher taxes on businesses and the wealthy to pay for universal child care and free buses — promises that helped him win a resounding victory against two more conservative candidates.

另一方則是馬姆達尼這樣的進步派民主社會主義者，他們呼籲建立更接近西歐模式的社會福利體系。馬姆達尼在競選中主張通過對企業和富人增稅來實現全民育兒保障和免費公車——這些承諾幫助他以壓倒性優勢擊敗了兩位立場更為保守的候選人。

Much like an earlier pay plan that Tesla shareholders approved in 2018, this 12-step package asks Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, to vastly expand Tesla’s stock market valuation — to $8.5 trillion from around $1.4 trillion — while hitting a variety of other goals. Those include selling one million robots with humanlike qualities and 10 million paid subscriptions to the company’s self-driving software.

與特斯拉股東在2018年批准的那份薪酬方案類似，這項包含12個階段的計劃要求擔任首席執行官的馬斯克大幅提高特斯拉的市值——從約1.4萬億美元提高到8.5萬億美元——同時完成其他一系列目標，包括出售100萬台人形機器人，以及實現1000萬份自動駕駛軟體的付費訂閱。

“What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book,” Mr. Musk said, after thanking shareholders for their support.

「我們即將開啟的不只是特斯拉未來的新篇章，而是一個全新的時代，」馬斯克在感謝股東支持後說道。

Tesla’s stock price fell modestly in after hours trading.

特斯拉的股價在盤後交易中小幅下跌。

Tesla’s directors and some investors, including the board that oversees Florida’s public pension fund, hailed the $1 trillion pay plan as a way to motivate Mr. Musk, who is already the world’s wealthiest person, to build futuristic products like cars that can drive themselves.

特斯拉董事及部分投資者——包括監管佛羅里達州公共養老基金的董事會——稱讚這項價值萬億美元的薪酬方案，認為它將激勵已經身為全球首富的馬斯克打造自動駕駛汽車等未來產品。

“Those who claim the plan is ‘too large’ ignore the scale of ambition that has historically defined Tesla’s trajectory,” the Florida State Board of Administration said in a securities filing describing why it voted for Mr. Musk’s pay plan. “A company that went from near bankruptcy to global leadership in E.V.s and clean energy under similar frameworks has earned the right to use incentive models that reward moonshot performance.”

佛羅里達州行政委員會在一份闡述其為何投票支持馬斯克薪酬計劃的證券備案文件中表示：「那些質疑『薪酬過高』的人忽視了特斯拉的雄心之大，而這種雄心一直定義著特斯拉的發展軌跡。一個在類似激勵框架下從瀕臨破產發展到在電動車和清潔能源領域領先全球的公司，完全有資格使用獎勵『登月級成果』的激勵模式。」

The plan is structured in such a way that if Mr. Musk makes money, the company’s investors do, too — a point that the fund manager Cathie Wood made this week on the social media platform X.

該薪酬方案的設計確保馬斯克獲利時公司投資者也能受益——基金經理凱西·伍德本週在社群媒體平台X上強調了這一點。

“I do not understand why investors are voting against Elon’s pay package when they and their clients would benefit enormously if he and his incredible team meet such high goals,” Ms. Wood, who is the chief executive of Ark Invest, wrote.

身為方舟投資公司首席執行官的伍德寫道：「我不明白投資者為何要投票反對伊隆的薪酬方案，若他與其卓越團隊實現這些宏偉目標，投資者及其客戶都將獲得巨大回報。」

But Mr. Musk’s detractors, including officials who oversee public pension funds in New York and California, vigorously opposed the plan, saying it would concentrate too much wealth and corporate power in the hands of one person.

但馬斯克的反對者，包括紐約和加州公共養老金基金的管理官員，強烈反對這項計劃，稱它會讓過多的財富和公司權力集中在一個人手中。

“This is not pay for performance. It is pay for unchecked power,” Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, told reporters and investors on a recent conference call.

紐約州審計長托馬斯·迪納波利在最新一次與記者和投資者的電話會議上表示：「這不是績效薪酬，這是無約束權力得到的報酬。」

Even Pope Leo XIV weighed in, saying in an interview with Crux, a Catholic news website, that Mr. Musk’s compensation was a symptom of the growing disparity between working people and the wealthy. The median Tesla worker earned around $57,000 in 2024, according to a company securities filing.

甚至教宗良十四世也發表了看法，他在接受天主教新聞網站Crux採訪時表示，馬斯克的薪酬方案折射出工薪階層與富豪群體日益擴大的鴻溝。根據公司的一份證券申報文件，2024年特斯拉員工的薪酬中位數約為5.7萬美元。

Mr. Musk addressed some of those concerns obliquely, saying the company’s humanoid robot, Optimus, was the singular solution for addressing poverty. The robot remains under development.

馬斯克間接回應了部分質疑，聲稱公司研發的人形機器人Optimus是消除貧困的唯一解決方案。目前該機器人仍處於開發階段。

“People often talk about eliminating poverty, giving everyone amazing medical care. Well, there’s actually only one way to do that, and that’s with the Optimus robot,” Mr. Musk said. “You start getting into like, some pretty wild sci-fi sort of scenarios.”

「人們常說要消除貧困、讓所有人享有優質醫療服務。但實際上只有一種方法能做到，那就是Optimus機器人，」馬斯克說。「這即將帶我們進入超乎想像的科學幻境。」

His pay plan had been expected to pass. Roughly half a dozen similar — albeit much smaller — executive stock packages have been put to a shareholder vote at publicly traded U.S. companies in the past three years, according to the proxy solicitation firm Georgeson. All but one of them passed.

這項薪酬方案的通過本在預料之中。據代理徵求機構喬治森的數據，過去三年美國上市公司提交股東表決的類似高管股權激勵方案約有六個（儘管規模小得多），除一個外均獲通過。

Mr. Musk was allowed under state law in Texas, Tesla’s corporate residence, to vote his own shares. The executive owns about 15 percent of Tesla’s stock. His control could grow to almost 29 percent if he fulfills the terms of the pay plan, though he might have to sell some stock to pay taxes.

根據特斯拉註冊地得克薩斯州法律，馬斯克可以用自己持有的股份參與投票。他持有特斯拉約15%的股份。如果他達成薪酬計劃的條款，其持股比例最高可增至近29%，不過他可能需要出售部分股票支付稅費。

But another of the company’s biggest investors, the manager of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, said it would vote against the pay package.

但公司另一大投資者——挪威主權財富基金運營機構挪威銀行投資管理公司明確表示將投反對票。

“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” the firm said, using a business term for a company’s dependence on one particular person.

Other opponents said the plan’s terms allowed the Tesla board of directors too much leeway to award Mr. Musk the shares even if he does not achieve the product goals.

其他反對者則表示，該方案條款賦予特斯拉董事會過大自由裁量權，即使未達成產品目標仍可向馬斯克授予股份。

Tesla’s board of directors rejected those complaints.

特斯拉董事會駁斥了這些質疑。

The compensation plan “was designed with one overarching purpose: to supercharge Tesla’s next phase of exceptional growth, innovation and value creation,” Robyn Denholm, the chair of the company’s board of directors, said in a letter to shareholders last month. “There are no layups, and Elon only gets additional voting rights if he delivers on bold market capitalization and operational goals.”

董事會主席羅賓·德霍姆上月致信股東稱：該薪酬方案的「核心目標只有一個：加速特斯拉邁向新一輪非凡增長、創新與價值創造。沒有易達成的指標，伊隆唯有達成遠大的市值與運營目標，才能獲得更多的投票權。」