Rivian’s board has approved a new compensation package for CEO RJ Scaringe worth as much as $4.6 billion over the next decade — a move that mirrors Tesla’s headline-grabbing $1 trillion pay plan for Elon Musk.

The decision underscores how Musk’s compensation structure has become a model for high-growth companies seeking to tie executive rewards to ambitious performance targets and shareholder value creation.

Rivian said the plan aims to retain its founder while keeping him focused on profitability and expansion as the company prepares to roll out its smaller, more affordable R2 SUV next year. The R2 is expected to compete directly with Tesla’s Model Y, one of the world’s best-selling electric crossovers.

The company’s decision comes amid broader financial pressure on electric vehicle makers. Rivian has struggled with slowing sales following the removal of key U.S. EV tax credits and has recently laid off about 600 workers — roughly 4.5% of its workforce — to reduce costs.

According to Reuters, the new incentive plan replaces a previous one that Rivian’s board said was unlikely to be met under current market conditions.

Under the revised plan, Scaringe will receive options to purchase up to 36.5 million shares of Rivian’s Class A stock at an exercise price of $15.22 each — the same as Thursday’s closing price. The award will vest if the company meets stock price milestones ranging from $40 to $140 per share over 10 years, alongside new operating income and cash flow goals over seven years. The thresholds are notably lower than the previous pay package approved in 2021, which required share prices to hit $110–$295 per share. Rivian canceled that deal after concluding the targets were unrealistic.

At full vesting, the new package represents about 3% of Rivian’s shares. Scaringe already owns around 2% of the company, while Musk controls about 13% of Tesla, a stake that could rise to 25% under his newly approved plan.

“RJ’s starting position makes this package much more reasonable than Musk’s,” said Vitaly Golomb, managing partner at Mavka Capital and a Rivian investor.

Tesla’s board has argued that Musk’s massive $1 trillion package, approved last week after months of controversy, was essential to keep him focused on driving the company’s value toward an $8 trillion valuation. Analysts note that Rivian’s plan, though much smaller, draws clear inspiration from Tesla’s structure, linking extraordinary rewards to equally ambitious performance.

“While Rivian may not be a direct copycat, there are definitely Elon Musk characteristics that are similar,” said Yonat Assayag, a partner at ClearBridge Compensation Group. “It’s not to keep up with Musk, but inspired by Musk’s award.”

Rivian said shareholders will gain $153 billion in value if the company hits all the milestones as part of the package, while Reuters’ calculation showed that Scaringe will get up to $4.6 billion, including the costs of exercising options.

However, not everyone is convinced that such ambitious pay designs will pay off. Amit Batish, director at research firm Equilar, noted that “while these packages sound attractive, they don’t always work out. Many CEOs struggle to hit the targets due to changing policies and economic headwinds.”

In addition to the stock-based incentives, Rivian’s board has doubled Scaringe’s base salary to $2 million, aligning his compensation more closely with shareholder returns. The automaker said the revised structure was crafted with input from an independent consultant.

Rivian also announced that Scaringe will chair the board of Mind Robotics, a new spinoff backed by external investors to develop industrial AI systems. The CEO has been granted 1 million common units in the venture, representing up to a 10% stake once profitability thresholds are met.

The new plan marks Rivian’s bid to reward long-term execution rather than short-term market performance. But as the EV industry faces intensifying competition, high borrowing costs, and uncertain demand, analysts say it will test whether tying billion-dollar compensation to future milestones can truly motivate sustainable growth — or simply replicate the high-risk model that made Tesla’s rise so polarizing.

Pfizer has clinched a $10 billion deal to acquire Metsera, the U.S. biotech developer of experimental obesity drugs, marking the end of a heated bidding war with Novo Nordisk that captivated the pharmaceutical industry.

The acquisition gives Pfizer a much-needed entry into the booming obesity drug market, which analysts project could reach $150 billion by the next decade, dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.

Metsera’s board accepted Pfizer’s revised offer late Friday, citing “unacceptably high legal and regulatory risks” in Novo Nordisk’s rival proposal. The decision followed concerns from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which warned that Novo’s bid could violate antitrust laws, given its dominant position in the weight-loss drug market through its blockbuster GLP-1 treatments, Wegovy and Ozempic.

Novo Nordisk, in response, announced Saturday that it would not raise its offer, effectively ending the contest.

“Following a competitive process and after careful consideration, Novo Nordisk will not increase its offer to acquire Metsera,” the drugmaker said in a statement.

The Danish company said its previous bid had been its “maximum value” for Metsera, and it would continue to focus on expanding its own obesity pipeline and exploring future acquisitions “that further its strategic objectives.”

Pfizer, which will pay $86.25 per share — including a $20.65 per share contingent value right tied to Metsera’s drug milestones — described the deal as a key step in rebuilding its pipeline after recent setbacks. The company is under growing pressure to offset declining COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral sales, and its previous efforts to develop weight-loss drugs in-house faltered.

The win is a symbolic comeback for Pfizer, long viewed as lagging behind in the new generation of metabolic treatments.

“While this is a smaller deal, Pfizer must believe that Metsera’s pipeline is key for its future,” Reuters quoted John LaMattina, former head of research and development at Pfizer, as saying, likening the bidding battle to the company’s $90 billion takeover of Warner-Lambert in 2000 to secure Lipitor.

Metsera’s leading candidates — MET-097i, a GLP-1 injectable, and MET-233i, an amylin-mimicking drug — are still years away from commercialization but could together generate $5 billion in peak annual sales, according to Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger.

However, some analysts cited by Reuters have warned that Pfizer’s aggressive price tag assumes highly optimistic projections. Bernstein’s Courtney Breen said the company would need Metsera to generate roughly $11 billion in revenue by 2040, nearly double current expectations. She also cited growing skepticism about long-term GLP-1 pricing as competition expands, potentially eroding profit margins.

Still, Pfizer executives view the acquisition as a strategic bet on a market undergoing explosive growth.

“This transaction reflects Pfizer’s commitment to expanding its leadership in metabolic disease research,” the company said, adding that it expects to finalize the merger soon after Metsera’s November 13 shareholder meeting.

For Novo Nordisk, the loss stings but may not slow its momentum. The company remains a leader in the obesity space, though it has faced increasing supply constraints and regulatory scrutiny amid its rapid global expansion. Analysts say its failed pursuit of Metsera underscores the tightening antitrust environment for dominant drugmakers in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the competition for next-generation weight-loss treatments continues to intensify. Investors and analysts have described the Pfizer–Novo battle as a “Game of Thrones-level” struggle for control of the next wave of obesity science — a sign of just how high the stakes have become in one of the world’s most lucrative drug markets.

I just finished a class in Tekedia Mini-MBA, and the takeaway is simple but profound: the best time to audition to raise money is when you do not need money. Likewise, the best time to audition for a job is when there is no job advertised.

At that early stage, investors are not buying your product, they are investing in you. They study your “fingerprints”; your habits, your consistency, your discipline, to determine if you can multiply value. Because in venture investing, people give money to those they believe can grow it faster than they ever could.

So, Good People, if you are in that early stage, remember this: you are the product. And your job is to demonstrate to investors that their odds of financial success increase when they place their capital in your care. That is the real audition, and only those who radiate capacity, discipline, and vision make the cut.

Sat, Nov 8 | 7pm-8.30pm WAT | How To Raise Fund and Launch a Business – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom link

Join us at Tekedia Mini-MBA https://school.tekedia.com/course/mmba19/