The world's richest man was just handed a chance to become history's first trillionaire.

Elon Musk won a shareholder vote on Thursday that would give the Tesla CEO stock worth $1 trillion if he hits certain performance targets over the next decade.

The vote followed weeks of debate over his management record at the electric car maker and whether anyone deserved such unprecedented pay, drawing heated commentary from small investors to giant pension funds and even the pope.

In the end, more than 75 per cent of voting shareholders gathered at the company's Austin, Texas, headquarters approved the plan.

"Fantastic group of shareholders," Musk said after the final vote was tallied, adding "Hang on to your Tesla stock."

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