Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s record breaking pay package has been voided by a Delaware court. The compensation – worth $56 billion (RM265 billion) over 10 years – was deemed to be an “unfathomable sum”.
The ruling comes as a result of a lawsuit brought by a Tesla shareholder, who believed that Musk’s compensation was unfair to shareholders and that the board of directors lacked independence in deciding the deal. As it stands, the Tesla’s eight member board includes Musk himself, his brother, and James Murdoch (son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch). It should also be pointed out that Musk does not own a majority share in the company.
Musk testified that his pay package would be justified for the good of mankind. Stating that the amount would be used to fund interplanetary travel and help humanity reach Mars for habitation.
This ruling comes as Tesla began gearing up for a new round of negotiations with Musk to further increase his control over the company. The CEO has earlier posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he was uncomfortable leading the company without controlling 25% of the shares.
As it stands the voided compensation package would have allocated 304 million shares for Musk to buy at about $23.33 each, well below the current valuation of the stock. He was not to draw any salary as part of the deal.
