Tesla boss Elon Musk (54) prevailed in the years-long legal dispute over a huge block of shares from 2018. The approximately 304 million shares are worth just over 146 billion dollars (around 124.6 billion euros) at the current price. The Supreme Court in the US state of Delaware overturned a judge’s decision to overturn the compensation package following a shareholder lawsuit. The judges ruled that repealing the entire package was too harsh a measure.
In 2018, Musk was given the right to acquire the shares in twelve steps if the company met ambitious goals over a period of up to ten years. Tesla hit the targets much faster. The package was worth more than $50 billion at the time.
However, a shareholder filed a lawsuit against Musk’s remuneration at Tesla’s then headquarters in the state of Delaware. And one At the beginning of 2024, the judge decided that the allocation of the package was not legal. Musk had too much influence in the background in negotiations with the board of directors of the electric car manufacturer – and this was hidden from the shareholders, she argued. One reaction from Musk was to move Tesla’s official headquarters from Delaware to Texas.
The case took an unusual turn after Tesla shareholders approved the 2018 package again at a general meeting in June 2024 – this time with more information simply through the sensational process. However, the judge stood by her rejection. Tesla appealed in Delaware and has since set a higher hurdle for such shareholder lawsuits.
Elon Musk could soon become a trillionaire
In view of the legal dispute, Tesla gave Musk the prospect of a replacement package of 96 million shares last August, which he was supposed to receive after two years. He could have purchased the shares for $23.34 per share – just like the shares promised in 2018. However, Tesla restricted that this new allocation would become invalid if the old package was restored by the court.
Musk also got it in November Prospect of a new giant block of shares worth a trillion dollars. In total, he could get up to 423.74 million Tesla shares – in twelve stages, which are usually linked to steps of an additional $500 billion in market value. One of the goals is for Tesla to raise at least $8.5 trillion on the stock market in ten years. Other requirements include that Musk stays in the executive suite for the decade – and Tesla has a million robotaxis in use and delivers a million AI robots.
According to estimates by the financial service Bloomberg, Musk already has a fortune of more than $640 billion, mainly from shares in Tesla and the space company he runs SpaceX consists.