I think it's simple. He's the pied piper who made the impossible happen for Tesla shareholders, pay the man or he brings out the flute again.<p>I was alive and online when the pay package was announced (21 March 2018), and I remember how much it was NOT certain any of this would come to fruition.<p>It's simple, he was shown ~2 Bn worth of shares and told he would get them only if he converted the shares to 56 Bn.<p>You (the big institutional shareholders AND the small shareholders) were greedy and knew what he would do, you paid for alchemy and he made gold from lead, don't cry now.<p>____<p>disclaimer: not an american, not a shareholder or user of his products (not even paypal lol, it doesn't work in my country)