Elon Musk has been awarded a record-breaking pay deal of $56 billion

 Tesla boss Elon Musk has been awarded a record-breaking pay deal of $56 billion by the shareholders of his company. The astronomical remuneration package is 3,000 times the average pay for a CEO in the USA. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average income in the USA in 2023 was $59,384. At that salary, it would take 943,014 years to earn $56 billion. Mr Musk's salary was agreed upon by shareholders at Tesla's annual general meeting on Friday. Musk responded by telling the investors attending the meeting that: "We have the most awesome shareholder base of any public company. We are not just opening a new chapter for Tesla, we are starting a new book."

Musk's pay settlement was blocked earlier this year by a court in Delaware. The presiding judge deemed the size of the pay to be unfair to shareholders. However, in Friday's meeting, shareholders agreed the deal was both fair, and in the company's best interests. The BBC said 72 per cent of the votes cast favoured the $56 billion deal. The BBC quoted car industry analyst Karl Brauer as saying the vote was "a pretty ringing endorsement". Shares in Tesla closed nearly 3 per cent up following the meeting. Mr Brauer extolled Musk's business acumen. He said: "My understanding is that there's been about a 1,100% appreciation in Tesla stock, and that's pretty impressive. Most chief executives have never done anything like that."

And on the topic of Tesla and electric cars, skyrocketing auto insurance premiums are fuelling inflationary pressures in the USA. Costs have been rising at their fastest ever rates. Premiums jumped 2.6 per cent in March alone, which means costs are a whopping 22.2 per cent higher than this time last year. The increases contributed to inflation rising by 0.4 per cent last month. No other category of spending has soared as much as auto insurance. Foxbusiness.com said the average cost of car insurance in the US has surpassed $2,300 per year, which amounts to about $192 a month. The rising prices are impacting the lowest paid most. Insurance is becoming more of a financial burden for those struggling to make ends meet in the cost of living crisis.

Automotive analyst Sean Tucker tried to explain what is behind the rising prices. He said: "I think the biggest factor is a combination of new cars and them being more expensive, so if you wreck your car, the replacement cost is really high, and a fender bender is very expensive right now." He attributed the sophistication of technology, gadgetry and safety equipment in modern cars to more expensive repair and replacement costs. The cost of replacing the battery in an electric car can range from $6,500 to well over $20,000. A simple fender bender is likely to damage costly embedded sensors, cameras and sonar. One factor driving up labour costs is a shortage of car mechanics.

1. SALARY CAP: Students A strongly believe all professions should have a salary cap; Students B strongly believe otherwise. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
2. BUSINESS LEADER: What do you know about these companies that Musk either founded or was/is CEO of? How do / will they change our world? Complete this table .

	What I Know	World-changing
PayPal
SpaceX
Tesla
Neuralink
The Boring Company
X / Twitter

3.Vocabulary

    Paragraph 1

1.	deal	a.	Answered or replied.
2.	astronomical	b.	A group of people regarded as supporting an organization.
3.	remuneration	c.	An agreement or arrangement, especially in business.
4.	earn	d.	Very, very large.
5.	responded	e.	Get money for working.
6.	investor	f.	A person who puts money into a business to make more money.
7.	shareholder base	g.	Money paid for work.

    Paragraph 2

8.	settlement	h.	Increase in monetary value.
9.	presiding	i.	The ability to make good decisions, especially in business.
10.	deemed	j.	Saying that you support or like something or someone.
11.	endorsement	k.	An agreement whereby property, wealth or money passes someone.
12.	acumen	l.	Causing admiration because it is very good or great.
13.	appreciation	m.	Being in charge of a meeting or event.
14.	impressive 15.shareholder	n.	Thought or considered to be. o. a person who owns some percentage in a company and gets part of the company's profits and the right to vote on how the company is controlled

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1. awarded
2. astronomical
3. earn
4. awesome
5. chapter
6. deemed
7. cast
8. endorsement
9. acumen
10. appreciation

1. breathtaking
2. increase
3. period
4. regarded
5. seal of approval
6. given
7. awareness
8. enormous
9. take home
10. registered

Vocabulary Part 2:    

Paragraph 3

1.	skyrocketing	a.	Having a big or strong effect on something.
2.	premium	b.	Giving energy or power to something.
3.	fuelling	c.	An amount to be paid for a contract of insurance.
4.	whopping	d.	Having enough money to pay for basic needs day by day or week by week.
5.	impacting	e.	Rapidly going up.
6.	burden (noun)	f.	Very large or huge.
7.	make ends meet	g.	Something that is heavy to carry or deal with.

    Paragraph 4

8.	analyst	h.	Saying that something is caused by something else.
9.	wreck (verb)	i.	All the devices and tools, especially new and exciting ones.
10.	fender bender	j.	High level of complexity or quality.
11.	attributed	k.	To severely damage or destroy something.
12.	sophistication	l.	Something firmly fixed or attached within something else.
13.	gadgetry	m.	Someone who studies and understands things carefully.
14.	embedded	n.	A small (not serious) car crash.

 

 SYNONYM MATCH 2:  

1. fuelling
2. jumped
3. whopping
4. surpassed
5. burden
6. factor
7. combination
8. sophistication
9. fender bender
10. shortage

1. point
2. exceeded
3. strain
4. finesse
5. leapt
6. mix
7.  car accident
8. boosting
9. dearth
10. huge

5.Role play

Role  A – Food You think food is the best thing to spend $56 billion on. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these things to spend money on (and why):

Role  B – Getting to Mars You think getting to Mars is the best thing to spend $56 billion on. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these things to spend money on (and why):

Role  C – Property You think property is the best thing to spend $56 billion on. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these things to spend money on (and why):

Role  D – Cancer Research You think cancer research is the best thing to spend $56 billion on. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these things to spend money on (and why):   OR Charities Tropical islands Sports teams Cancer research ROLE PLAY 2: What do you know about the following South Africans? Nelson Mandela – Anti-apartheid revolutionary and former President of South Africa. Desmond Tutu – Archbishop and social rights activist. Charlize Theron – Academy Award-winning actress and UN Messenger of Peace. Elon Musk – Entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and X(Twitter). Trevor Noah – Comedian and former host of “The Daily Show.” J.R.R. Tolkien – Renowned author of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” Dave Matthews-Musician Oscar  Pistorius- Former Athlete

6.Discussion - Pay / Salaries

1. What do you know about Elon Musk?
2. What do you think of getting $56 billion in pay?
3. What would you do if you had $56 billion?
4. How much money is too much?
5. Why do you think the shareholders agreed to the pay deal?
6. Do you think you would be a good CEO?
7. What might Tesla be doing to start 'a new book'?
8. What advice do you have for Elon Musk?

11. What do you know about the car company Tesla?
12. Do you have or would you like to have shares?
13. Who are the world's best business leaders?
14. How does someone develop business acumen?
15. What would the world be like if everyone got the same salary?
16. What kind of company would you like to be CEO of?
17. What questions would you like to ask Elon Musk?

Discussion -  Auto  Insurance

11. Why is insurance important?
12. What kinds of insurance do you have?
13. What do you think of insurance companies?
14. Is it better for us to give up our cars?
15. What's your dream  car?
16. Have you ever been involved in a fender bender?
17. What do you think of the gadgetry in modern  cars?
18. What things do you get repaired?
19. What do you think of the job of  car mechanic?
20. What questions would you like to ask the insurance companies?