WILMINGTON: Tesla tycoon Elon Musk took the stand on Wednesday as part of a trial over his $50 billion pay package as CEO of the electric car giant. The arrival was discreet, with the world’s richest person arriving in a black Tesla, which parked at the back of the courthouse in a tent set up for the occasion.
Elon Musk Testifies in Delaware Court
A few minutes later, wearing a black suit and tie, he quietly passed through security to enter the courtroom. Musk began testifying in the same Delaware court where he faced a lawsuit by Twitter to ensure he went through with his buyout of the social platform. The $44 billion purchase of Twitter has put the South African billionaire under intense scrutiny after he conducted massive layoffs, scared advertisers, and opened the platform to fake accounts.
The unrelated Tesla case is based on a complaint by shareholder Richard Tornetta, who accused Musk and the company’s board of directors of failing in their duties when they authorized the pay plan. Tornetta alleges that Musk dictated his terms to directors who were not sufficiently independent from their star CEO to object to a package worth around $51 billion at recent share prices.
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The Tesla shareholder accuses Musk of “unjustified enrichment” and asked for the annulment of a pay program that helped make the entrepreneur the richest man in the world. According to a legal filing, Musk earned the equivalent of $52.4 billion in Tesla stock options over four and a half years after virtually all of the company’s targets were met.
The non-jury trial began Monday with testimony from Ira Ehrenpreis, head of the compensation committee on Tesla’s board of directors, who said the targets set were “extraordinarily ambitious and difficult”. Ehrenpreis argued that the board wanted to spur Musk to focus on Tesla at a time when the company was still struggling to gain traction. APP/AFP
