Tesla director and former executive defend Musk’s compensation plan
TESLARATINov 15, 2022
Final Arguments Scheduled in Musk's $56B Tesla Pay Plan Trial
The Facts
On Tuesday, lawyers for Tesla CEO Elon Musk and shareholder Richard Tornetta were scheduled to begin presenting their closing arguments to a Delaware judge in the trial over Musk's $56B compensation package from Tesla.
This comes after a five-day trial last November during which Musk testified about the inception of the 2018 pay package, whether its performance goals were difficult to achieve, and whether it was precisely described to investors.
The Spin
Narrative B
This compensation plan was granted to Musk — who took on high risk to achieve a high reward — because of his paramount role in Tesla's success. Though Tesla skeptics ridiculed his decisions at the time, Musk's management has resulted in the carmaker increasing its value from $59B to $600B and achieving almost all its stipulated performance targets.
Narrative A
This compensation plan is clearly excessive. Musk has benefited from his influence over the board's committee – which falsely claimed it had no conflicts of interest – and been rewarded for his part-time management role at Tesla, largely on the grounds of milestones that had already been achieved when shareholders voted.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that Tesla's market capitalization will be at least 1.94 trillion dollars by Jan. 1, 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
