Elon Musk listens as US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Allison Robert | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk He lost his bid to reinstate his 2018 CEO pay package on Monday when a Delaware judge upheld his earlier ruling that the compensation plan was improperly awarded.
The package, worth about $56 billion, is the largest compensation plan in US history for public company executives.
Musk’s lawyers tried to persuade a judge in a Delaware business court after the trial to reverse his opinion of overturning the CEO’s pay plan. Tesla ran a Shareholder vote to “approve” Musk’s 2018 pay plan at the EV maker’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, in June.
Judge Kathleen McCormick wrote in her opinion Monday, “While a shareholder vote can have affirmative effect, it cannot do so here.” A judge approved a $345 million attorney’s fee award to a lawyer who successfully sued on behalf of Tesla shareholders to overturn the wage plan.
“We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick’s decision to reject Tesla’s invitation to inject continued uncertainty into court proceedings, and thank the chancellor and his staff for their extraordinary hard work in overseeing this complex case,” attorneys at Bernstein, Litovitz, Berger & Grossman, the firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Musk may appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.
After McCormick’s decision in January to cancel the plan, Musk lashed out at the court, posting on X, “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.” The company later held a shareholder vote to reorganize in Texas and officially changed its incorporation in June.
In response to Musk’s motion arguing that Tesla’s approval vote for his pay package should cause her to reverse her earlier opinion, Judge McCormick wrote, “Whether the Court condones the practice of allowing losing parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising rulings, the lawsuits will not end.”
Despite the setback, Musk’s net worth has seen a significant jump in recent weeks. Excluding all the options wrapped up in the pay package, Musk is more than $43 billion richer since Donald Trump’s election victory last month. Tesla shares have soared 42% in the four weeks since the election, on optimism that Musk’s coziness with the incoming president will lead to favorable policies for his companies.
His Tesla stock is worth about $150 billion based on Monday’s closing price. That alone, not including his SpaceX holdings, puts him on the world list Very rich People.
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