Tasers and Musk-Inspired Pay Package Make Axon CEO a Billionaire

Axon Enterprise Inc. modeled its CEO pay package after Elon Musk’s incentives at Tesla Inc. in a high-risk, high-reward gambit. Now Musk and Axon co-founder Rick Smith have another thing in common: They’re both billionaires.

Rick Smith

Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The combination of Axon’s soaring stock price and Smith’s moon-shot pay package has lifted the chief executive officer’s fortune to about $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is valuing his net worth for the first time.

A spokesperson for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based maker of Tasers and police body cameras declined to comment.

Axon’s stock surged by 29% in ...