Quit rewriting history, those were absolutely not lowball milestones.

If Mr. Musk were somehow to increase the value of Tesla to $650 billion — a figure many experts would contend is laughably impossible and would make Tesla one of the five largest companies in the United States, based on current valuations — his stock award could be worth as much as $55 billion

That is a quote from this contemporary article: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/teslas-pay-deal-to-keep-elon-musk-all-or-nothing.html