Tesla shareholders may be set to award CEO Elon Musk $46 billion in pay. Here's why.

In the history of U.S. corporate pay packages, there have been plenty of massive payouts worth almost $1 billion in today's dollars. But none comes close to the $46 billion pay deal Tesla shareholders appear to be on the verge of handing over to CEO Elon Musk. 

The results of the shareholder vote, which concludes today, will be announced on Thursday during Tesla's annual meeting, which will be livestreamed here at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. But Musk has already declared victory, writing late Wednesday on his social media platform X that shareholders were voting to approve the pay package by "wide margins."

The pay package has become a lightning rod over executive pay, with some critics calling the package "excessive." Supporters argue that such a deal is necessary to tether Musk to Tesla and ensure he doesn't decamp to start another business. Along with Tesla, the billionaire currently owns five additional businesses including X (formerly Twitter), Neurolink and SpaceX, the latter of which he is also CEO.