The trillionaires are coming.

They should pay their workers too

- Nir Kaissar

Protesters at the "No $1 Trillion for Elon Musk!" rally in Austin, Texas, on Nov 5. Tesla's shareholders on Nov 6 approved a compensation package that would pay chief executive Elon Musk US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) over 10 years if the company achieves certain benchmarks, adding to his current US$461 billion fortune. PHOTO: AFP

(AFP)

The world may soon have its first trillionaire.

Tesla's shareholders on Nov 6 approved a compensation package that would pay chief executive officer Elon Musk US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) over 10 years if the company achieves certain benchmarks, adding to his current US$461 billion fortune.

Some people have an aversion to billionaires, so I doubt they're ready for the next level of incomprehensible wealth. But ready or not, trillionaires are coming.

"If you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" pop singer Billie Eilish recently asked during an acceptance speech at the Wall Street Journal Magazine Innovator Awards. She was expressing a common sentiment among Generation Z, despite the fact that most of them aspire to billions of their own.

"No hate," she insisted, "but yeah, give your money away, shorties."

Many of them will, eventually, but it's trickier than it sounds. Billionaires, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was in attendance, typically don't have a cartoonish pile of cash lying around ready to hand out.

They're rich because they created products, such as Mr Zuckerberg's Facebook social media platform or Mr Musk's Tesla electric vehicles, that became wildly popular and made their companies - and their stake in it - wildly valuable.