Tesla CEO Elon Musk loses bid to get $56 billion pay package reinstated

Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost his bid to get his 2018 CEO pay package reinstated on Monday when a Delaware judge upheld her prior ruling that the compensation plan was improperly granted.

The package, worth about $56 billion, was the largest compensation plan in U.S. history for a public company executive.

Musk attorneys attempted to sway the judge in the Delaware business court after the trial to reverse her opinion rescinding the CEO's pay plan. Tesla had conducted a shareholder vote to "ratify" Musk's 2018 pay plan at the EV maker's annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, in June.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick wrote in her opinion on Monday that, "Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here." The judge approved a $345 million attorney fee award for the lawyers who successfully sued on behalf of Tesla shareholders in order to void the pay plan.

"We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick's ruling, which declined Tesla's invitation to inject continued uncertainty into Court proceedings and thank the Chancellor and her staff for their extraordinary hard work in overseeing this complex case," attorneys from Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, the firm representing the plaintiff, said in a statement.

Musk can appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Following McCormick's decision in January to void the plan, Musk lashed out at the court, posting on X, "Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware." The company then held a shareholder vote to reincorporate in Texas, and officially shifted its incorporation there in June.

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