Contrary to usual practice, Mr. Musk's $56 billion compensation package does not include a salary or cash bonus. Instead, it corresponds to rewards based on increases in Tesla's stock market value.

Despite the recent plunge in the automaker's shares, which reduced the value of the compensation to around $40 billion, the package remains far larger than that of CEOs of other major US companies.

Here's a list of the total compensation packages of the CEOs of the top 10 US companies by market capitalization:

Reuters