NIO plans to grant performance-based equity incentives to William Li; full vesting requires the company's market value to exceed $120 billion and net profit to exceed $6 billion.

On March 10, NIO announced that its board of directors had approved the 2026 Equity Incentive Plan, under which approximately 248 million restricted shares would be granted to the company's founder, chairman, and CEO William Li. These restricted shares will be divided into ten equal tranches, with the vesting tied to specific performance targets related to the company's market capitalization and net profit. The plan will take effect on March 6, 2026, and will remain valid for twelve years.

It is noteworthy that the above shares will be vested to William Li in batches only after certain performance targets are achieved. The performance targets are directly related to the company's market capitalization and net profit. Specifically, when NIO’s market capitalization in US equities successively exceeds $30 billion, $50 billion, $80 billion, $100 billion, and $120 billion, one-tenth of the above shares will vest to William Li at each threshold. Similarly, when the company's net profit successively exceeds $1.5 billion, $2.5 billion, $4 billion, $5 billion, and $6 billion, one-tenth of the above shares will also vest to William Li at each threshold. When the company's market capitalization surpasses $120 billion and net profit exceeds $6 billion simultaneously, all of the incentive shares will finally vest.