Musk through the court achieved the restoration of the bonus from Tesla. It is now equal to $140 billion

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's compensation package approved in 2018 should be reinstated. Such a decision was made on Friday by the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware.

"We reverse the judgment of the Court of Chancery (Court of Chancery) dissolving the agreement and award $1 in nominal damages," the opinion states.

The Delaware Supreme Court justices felt that the lower court's decision to overturn the compensation package was excessive, CNBC reports. In addition, Tesla was not given the opportunity to justify what a fair level of compensation should be. Musk expected to receive compensation, as he did not receive a salary in Tesla as CEO.

The compensation plan for Musk, based on Tesla shares, was valued at $56 billion in 2018: it provided for 12 tranches of shares on the achievement of a number of targets, which the company managed to do. At the time, the bonus became the largest in history for the head of an American company. However, since then, the value of the securities has grown, and now the size of the package is about $140 billion, writes Bloomberg. In addition, Tesla overshadowed that plan, in 2025, offering Musk a new one - the size of $1 trillion.

A lawsuit challenging the CEO's compensation was filed in 2018 by Tesla shareholder Richard J. Tornetta. In January 2024, the Delaware Court of Chancery, which specializes in corporate cases, annulled the compensation agreement: the judge said Musk was the model of a "superstar CEO" and "dominated the process that led to the board's approval of the compensation agreement." The billionaire then asked the court to reconsider the decision and moved Tesla's incorporation from Delaware to Texas, and Tesla shareholders voted to give him a bonus. But in December 2024, the Delaware court revoked Musk's payout again.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor