Musk's maxi-compensation (56 billion) rejected again

Flunked again: despite the go-ahead of the board of directors in June, Elon Musk's maxi-salary as CEO of Tesla (USD 55.8 billion) was once again blocked by Kathaleen McCormick, the clerk of the Delaware Court of Chancery, who had already torpedoed it in January, deeming it too excessive (it would have been the highest in history for a listed company).

McCormick explained that the green light from Tesla's board does not overturn the decision made by the Delaware Court in January. At the time, it was the company's conflict of interest that was in the crosshairs: as a member of Tesla's board of directors, Musk had, according to the Delaware court, exerted too much influence on the sidelines when negotiating his generous remuneration.

In her 101-page opinion confirming the January decision, Kathaleen McCormick confirmed how Musk controlled the salary negotiations, pointing out, among other things, the numerous procedural errors of Tesla's board in the proxy statements concerning voting.

Musk's complex salary package dates back to 2017, with the granting of twelve different tranches of stock options linked to the achievement of market targets. Some Tesla shareholders, such as the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and the Californian teachers' pension fund, had voted against the world's richest man's salary package. To no avail.

"Shareholders decide, not judges!" he clarified on X republishing a Tesla post in which he called the ruling "wrong".
"A Delaware judge just overturned the will of the absolute majority of shareholders who own Tesla and voted twice to pay Elon Musk what he's worth. The court's decision is wrong and we will appeal," the post read.