For all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk.

Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world’s richest person on the path to become the world’s first trillionaire, despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile.

Shareholders approved the $1tn compensation plan, which could yield the largest corporate payout in history if he meets a series of tough-looking goals, not least pushing Tesla from its current market value of $1.4tn to $8.5tn (£1.06tn to £6.4tn). Musk’s fortune, which includes a stake of about 12.5% in Tesla, is already worth $461bn.

“Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk,” says Dan Ives, a managing director at the US financial firm Wedbush. “Despite some of the brand damage Musk has caused to Tesla during his political stint, the AI future at Tesla depends on Elon.”