Despite a vote by Tesla shareholders in June 2024, in favor of Elon Musk's exceptional compensation, the Delaware judge once again ruled against this December 2.
It's still a failure: Elon Musk will still not be able to receive the $56 billion salary planned for his performance at the head of the car manufacturer Tesla. However, he thought he had found a solution to this legal dispute by organizing a new vote on June 13, 2024 among Tesla shareholders.
Certainly, Tesla shareholders voted by majority for Elon Musk's astronomical compensation plan. However, the courts ruled against him again, as Reuters reported on December 3. Elon Musk is fuming and plans to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
Tesla gets along with the rules, which the judges don't like
After the judge's first refusal in January, Elon Musk considered that the court's decision was only political. He then did everything possible to find a solution. The idea was therefore to reorganize a vote among the shareholders to prove to the judge that they are indeed in favor of the exceptional remuneration.
The Tesla boss also took advantage of this general meeting to vote for the move of Tesla's headquarters from the state of Delaware, where the case was judged, to Texas, which he considers a more favorable state for his activity.
A few weeks before the vote, Tesla took significant steps to ensure that as many shareholders as possible would vote, and that they would vote in favor of the compensation plan. Advertising, lobbying, emotional blackmail, everything was done to get shareholders to support Elon Musk. It worked, although the majority in favor was smaller than a few years ago.
Tesla's legal team believed the new vote would validate the exceptional compensation and force the judge to reconsider her decision to overturn the compensation plan. She thus thought she could circumvent the law, by proving that the judge was on the wrong track. It was awkward, because the arguments which led to the initial cancellation of the 56 billion remained valid. Even with forceps, the argument did not pass, the judge even having clarified: “ Even if the shareholder vote could have ratifying effect, it could not do so here due to multiple material inaccuracies in the proxy statement. »
In addition, the judge ordered Tesla to pay $345 million to the lawyers who brought the case to court. Tesla must therefore go to the cash register and once again review its copy before hoping to appeal to the Supreme Court of Delaware.
Elon Musk insists on seeing it as a political conspiracy
Following the decision, Elon Musk tweeted: “ Shareholders should control corporate votes, not judges. »
This content is blocked because you have not accepted cookies and other trackers. This content is provided by Twitter.
To be able to view it, you must accept the use carried out by Twitter with your data which may be used for the following purposes: allowing you to view and share content with social media, promoting the development and improvement of products from Humanoid and its partners, display personalized advertisements to you in relation to your profile and activity, define a personalized advertising profile, measure the performance of advertisements and content on this site and measure the audience of this site (find out more more)
By clicking on “I accept all”, you consent to the aforementioned purposes for all cookies and other trackers placed by Humanoid and its partners.
You can withdraw your consent at any time. For more information, we invite you to read our Cookies Policy.
I accept everything
Manage my choices
As is often the case, the businessman wants to play by his rules and hates when he is reminded that the rules are the same for everyone. Even when you're the richest man in the world, things don't always go as you hope. His supporters, who had already stepped up after the decision in January, are once again criticizing the decision. Everyone fears seeing Elon Musk leave Tesla. But, isn't that already the case now that Elon Musk has accepted a position in the Trump administration?
Newsletter Watt Else
You would like to receive the newsletter
Watt Else in your mailbox?
The data transmitted via this form is intended for PressTiC Numerama, in its capacity as data controller. These data are processed with your consent for the purposes of sending you by email news and information relating to editorial content published on this site. You can object to these emails at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe links in each of them. For more information, you can consult our entire policy for processing your personal data.
You have a right of access, rectification, erasure, limitation, portability and opposition for legitimate reasons to personal data concerning you. To exercise one of these rights, please make your request via our dedicated rights exercise request form.
