Tesla CEO Elon Musk could leave if $56B pay package not approved
theverge.com
theverge.com
Of course he is. Tesla is cooked - he and everyone knows it, and he wants out before it all hits the fan. Tesla has lost - they lived off government money for as long as they could, but they didn't do enough and had too many failed promises - and that's ignoring the flop of the cybertruck launch.
He's looking for an escape route, because he doesn't want to be associated with the long fall down - but knows if he just walks away, then even his most ardent supporters will have to face he how he messed it up.
He's intentionally looking for a way out. So he makes an absurd request, then when it's denied he walks away. And when Tesla collapses, he thinks he'll be able to fool people and say "see it collapsed because I wasn't there" - even though it's clear to anyone looking the fall is in progress.
And if instead he receives the absolutely absurd $56B payment, he'll stick around for a while, then hand off day to day duties to someone else to blame for the decline, and point fingers at govt, tariffs, political parties whoever to blame for the collapse. He'll still take a good chunk the blame for it, but his true supports will believe whoever he blames, and he'll have gotten $56B for that effort.
His actions are pretty transparent - this isn't a surprise at all.