On Monday, a Delaware judge ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to turn over documents and communications relating to Musk’s $50 billion compensation plan, which was approved by Tesla’s in-house attorneys and the Board of Directors in 2018, according to Business Insider.
The news follows a 2018 motion lodged against Tesla, which argued that the company’s board had betrayed investors with such a lucrative compensation for Musk.
The ruling, as made by Vice-Chancellor Joseph Slights Jr., came in response to the original motion filed in 2018, which accused Musk and Tesla of approving unjust compensation for Musk while wasting corporate assets, along with breaching fiscal duties to the company.
Slights denied access to more broad access to other documents, which defense attorneys argue are protected by attorney-client privilege. Documents shared with Tesla’s general counsel Todd Maron, or Jonathan Chang, the company’s deputy general counsel, should, however, be provided to shareholder plaintiffs.
Under Musk’s current compensation plan, he’s entitled to purchase stock option tranches at the low price of $70 each when certain escalating financial goals are achieved from the company.
After 2021 Q1, Musk received 8.4 million shares at the low price of $70 per share, while the actual stock was worth $722 in mid-April – ultimately garnering around $6 billion per tranche purchased.
