PAY DAY

Judge Rejects Elon Musk’s Massive $56 Billion Tesla Pay Package

It’s the second time the pay package was rejected by the same Delaware judge.

Elon Musk’s attempt at reinstating his massive $56 billion Tesla pay package was rejected by a Delaware judge—the second time she ruled against the Tesla billionaire. On Monday, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick denied a request by Musk’s attorneys and Tesla’s corporate directors to rescind a ruling she made in January blocking Tesla from paying Musk’s hefty check. At the time, McCormick concluded that the company’s directors who approved the package were not independent from Musk. Although initially approved in 2018, Musk’s pay package was challenged by Tesla shareholders in a lawsuit after they accused him and the company’s board of directors of breaching their duties. Following McCormick’s January ruling, Musk met with Tesla shareholders in June where they ratified his 2018 pay package for a second time, by an “overwhelming margin” per AP. Defense attorneys argued that the second vote made a plausible case for Musk receiving the pay package, which McCormick shot down in her 103-page opinion on Monday.