The Delaware Supreme Court reinstated a $56bn pay package for Elon Musk, ruling that the cancellation in 2024 was an inappropriate remedy for a pay plan awarded by a company board too beholden to the Tesla chief.
“Total rescission leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years,” the court wrote in an opinion released on Friday.
The high court confirmed Tesla’s board in 2018 improperly approved a share grant of hundreds of millions of shares to Musk if Tesla reached several operational and financial milestones on his watch. But it concluded that complete withdrawal of the plan was not a proper remedy for the mis-step.